






















































f 


% 
















I 



« 




/ 




s 














% 



* 






















































* . 




» 

%. . 






- 


































































































































crsTsT. 


MEMOIRS 

OF A 

GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


2TranslatetJ from tf)e JFrencJ) of 
M. t’ABBE G. Chardon, 

Honorary Canon, Superior of the Diocesan Mission of 
Clermont-Ferrand. 



BALTIMORE: 

Published by John Murphy & Co. 

New York: . . . Catholic Publication Society. 
Boston: . . . Patrick Donohoe. 
1871 . 




Approbation. 



We have had the “Memoirs of a Guardian 
Angel ” carefully examined, and We approve of 
the same, as a work which is well calculated to 
rggs^*’ foster faith and piety among the faithful. 
Baltimore , Feast of St. Cecilia , Nov. 22, 1870. 

Thomas S. Lee, Martin J. Spalding, 

Secretary. Archbishop of Baltimore. 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
John Murphy, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


■ »i 

) 



3- FEB 

9fy 







of ffjO ^Mltofilfoo* 

translation of this work was under¬ 
in at the request of one of the most 
ous of our Prelates, and with the full 
consent of the Author. The only condition required 
by the latter was, that the references at the foot of 
each page, in the French, should be retained in the 
English edition. One of the charms of this book 
is the adaptation Rev. M. Chardon makes of facts 
found narrated in the Lives of the Saints by ap¬ 
proved writers; and as some of these facts are of 
such a nature as almost to surpass imagination, 
it is well the reader should see that the Author 
in so delicate a matter is not indulging his fancy. 
The maxims of spiritual and ascetical life are 
drawn from the best sources, and are skilfully 
interwoven in the memoirs. 

Speaking of this book, the Monde , of July 24th, 
1870, says: “A touching and inspiring subject. 
It has been treated a hundred times in every 
manner, and yet M. Chardon has found a way of 




iv PREFACE OF TRANSLATOR. 

being new — in constantly taking his stand on the 
doctrine of the Fathers, of the safest mystical 
writers, and principally on the examples, words, 
and revelations of Saints of both sexes. This, in 
our opinion, is the only path to tread, to succeed 
in the matter of books of devotion, and avoid the 
commonplace nullities that inundate us. We cor¬ 
dially thank the Abbe Chardon for having so 
happily guarded against adding to the number.” 

This book is worthy of remark for other reasons. 
It shows that Catholicity is ever alive to the wants 
of the age. ’Tis not a thing of the past, but is 
always of the present. In this epoch, when super¬ 
stition is tending, especially among us, to take the 
place of religion, the Church, in one of her sons, 
lays before all the true idea of that spiritual agency 
on our life, which no amount of stolid indifference 
or materialism can make us ignore. Again, this 
work will be useful to those who have turned their 
attention to spiritism; it will show them what they 
are to believe, according to approved experience, 
and the dangers they are exposed to, in trifling with 
powers far beyond their control. 

To Catholics the book will recommend itself, 


Rome, July, 1870, 





‘fttfatt, 

HESE Memoirs are a gallery of paint¬ 
ings in which is brought into view the 
Catholic doctrine on the ministry of 
Guardian Angels. 

An Angel here tells what were his duties and his 
impressions from the moment in which a soul was 
intrusted to him, to that in which she took her 
place at his side in glory. 

We see at a glance, what this best of friends has 
done for us in the past, is doing for us now, and 
will do for us in the future. 

May the reading of these pages excite the grati¬ 
tude of hearts that receive so many benefits, and 
lead them to correspond with these more faithfully! 
This is the end which the Author had in view. 




v 















PAGE 


I. Expectation. 13 

II. The First Light. 16 

III. The Baptism. 19 

IV. The Crib. 22 

V. The Little Brother. 25 

VI. The Vision. 28 

VII. My Co-laborers. 31 

VIII. Liberty. 34 

IX. The Sanctuary. 37 

- X. The First Fruits. 39 

XI. The Serpent. 41 

XII. Accidents. 43 

XIII. The Lesson. 47 

XIV. The Preparations. 50 

XV. A Shadow Dispelled. 52 

XVI. The Joyful Day. 55 

XVII. The Bearer of Christ. 59 

XVIII. Presentation to Mary. 61 

XIX. Native Air. 64 

XX. The Buckler. 67 


vii 






















viii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XXL The Infernal Lion. 70 

XXII. The Angel of Darkness. 73 

XXIII. Victories. 76 

XXIV. Fidelity. 80 

XXV. Weakness. 83 

XXVI. The Threat. 86 

XXVII. The Fall. 89 

XXVIII. Tears. 92 

XXIX. The Chains of the Captive. 95 

XXX. Recourse to Heaven. 98 

XXXI. The Voice of Creatures.101 

XXXII. The Father’s Call.104 

XXXIII. The Resolve..'..107 

XXXIV. The Return...110 

XXXV. The Feast.....112 

XXXVI. The Power of Tears.115 

XXXVII. The Triumphs of Love.118 

XXXVIII. A Sound Escapes from Heaven.121 

XXXIX. The Spiteful Rage of the Usurper.123 

XL. The Happy Fault.126 

XLI. The Counsellor.128 

XLII. The Future.131 

XLIII. The Vocation.134 

XLIV. The Spouse.137 

XLV. Fears.141 

XLVI. Confidence.144 

XLVII. The Wedding.146 




























CONTENTS. ix 

PAGE 

XLVIII. The Fireside.149 

XLIX. The Ladder....152 

L. The Flower-Basket.154 

LI. The Blessing.158 

LII. The Labor.161 

LIII. Repose.164 

LIY. Raise your Heart to God.167 

LV. The Holy Sacrifice.171 

LVI. The Profaners of the Holy Day.175 

LVII. God’s Part.179 

LVIII. The Value of Alms.183 

LIX. The Trial.186 

LX. The Angels of the Family.190 

LXI. The Poems.193 

LXII. The Angel of the Little Chosen One.197 

LXIII. The Angel of the Virgin.202 

LXIV. The Angel of the Soldier.214 

LXV. The Angel of the Religious.220 

LXVI. The Angel of the Priest.231 

LXVII. The Angel of the Mother.250 

.LXVIII. The Angel of the Servant.253 

LXIX. The Higher Angels.257 

LXX. The Divine Countenance.260 

LXXI. Old Age.264 

LXXII. The Illness.266 

LXXIII. The Tidings of Departure.270 

LXXIV. The Supplication.273 





























X 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

LXXY. The Last Assault.I...276 

LXXYI. Reassurance.279 

LXXYII. Extreme Unction.282 

LXXVIII. The Viaticum.285 

LXXIX. The Departure.289 

LXXX. The Arrival.291 

LXXXI. Judgment. 294 

LXXXII. Purgatory.298 

LXXXIII. Triumph.301 

LXXXIV. The Fallen Angel.304 

LXXXV. The First Look.307 

LXXXVI. The Obsequies. 310 

XXXVII. The Body of the Chosen One.314 

LXXXVIII. The Eternal Union.318 


















MEMOIRS OF 

A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


i. 





ROM the day when it was told 
me I was to be a Guardian 
Angel, I burned with impa¬ 
tience. The time seemed long 
ere I could leave and go to the 
earth to do my work of mercy. 

In heaven I could not taste such 
happiness. There all tears are wiped away, 
all labors are ended.* 


* S. Augustin, Comment, on the 148th Psalm. 

2 13 



14 


MEMOIRS OF A 


The earth offered a vast arena to my zeal. 
Misery abounds there; it is its own country, 
and its place of birth.* 

The Creator had set an example of com¬ 
passion, in visiting, after their fall, men who 
had sinned. The angels had darted down to 
follow Him, and were running in the way 
He had traced out for them.f 

“To save a soul,” they said, “to make 
forever happy a creature endowed with intel¬ 
lect and feeling, to give to God one more 
worshipper for all eternity, to prepare for 
ourselves a'nd our country a true and grate¬ 
ful friend — what a privilege! Will not our 
happiness be increased thereby, even in the 
bosom of infinite delights ? J 

The Incarnation put the finishing stroke to 
this charity. In raising souls to a new dig¬ 
nity, it had made a new kind of love spring 
up in the hearts of their heavenly guard¬ 
ians. 

* Bossuet, Sermon on Guardian Angels. 
fOrigen, Homily I. on Ezechiel. 
t Bossuet, Sermon sur les Anges Gardiens. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 15 

God had, from the beginning, allotted to 
pure spirits their labors; to some, that of 
seeking the general good of mankind; to 
others, that of watching each over one soul.* 
Of these latter I was one. On the advent 
of a soul whom God alone saw in the future, 
my ministry was to commence. At what 
time, in what place, under what auspices was 
she to appear ? I knew not. 

Without having seen her, I loved her al¬ 
ready, and my affection did not cease to grow 
in proportion as the wished-for term drew 
near.f 

When an infant was born on earth, I flew 
to the throne of God, and, like each one of 
my brothers, I hastened to say to Him, “ Will 
it be I, Lord, who shall have the honor of 
guiding it on its pilgrimage ? ” 


* Bail., Theologie Affective, des Anges. 
f Boudon, Devotion aux Neuf Choeurs des Anges. 



II. 



mt ^igljt. 


turn came. A new babe 
was born. The Most High 
made a sign. ... I was the 
f happy chosen one.* 

^ Without delay I flew to my 
pupil. The angel of its mother 
had guarded it till then. Protector 
of the tree, he watched over the fruit that 
hung on its branch. But on opening its eyes 
to the light, the infant was to be given to 
me.f After having awaited it for so long a 
time, I found it at last. I stretched out my 
arms to it; I was going to press it to my 


* St. Jerome, Commentary on St. Matthew, 
t St. Thomas, Treatise on the angel’s guest, 113, art. 5. 

16 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


17 


heart. . . . Bitter deception! The sight 
checked my movement. The Divine like¬ 
ness scarcely shone in this soul. A hideous 
leprosy disfigured her. She had the stain 
of her origin. 

Two opposite feelings strove within me: 
profound pity for a soul so dear, invincible 
horror of her defilement.* 

“ She is mine! ” said Satan. “ She has 
entered into life only to fall into my power. 
Behold the seal of malediction ! She belongs 
to that race of proscribed ones who owed to 
me once their fall, and who owe to me daily 
their misfortunes.” f 

How critical was the situation of this little 
infant! A too sudden movement, a fall, a 
mere nothing. . . and behold this frail exist¬ 
ence shattered! behold an immortal soul 
exiled to those places the light of the Divine 
Face will never illumine. Satan knew it; 

* Life of St. Sebastian, Bollandists. 
f Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul. 

2 * B 


18 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


he would have wished to snatch it from life 
in a moment; he would not have feared to 
strike the fatal blow. But his power went 
not that far. I was to put a limit to his 
cruelty.* 

While he was suggesting to the relatives 
a thousand pretexts for deferring the bap¬ 
tism, or seeking to deceive their vigilance, I 
kept alive their solicitude, and communicated 
to them the ardor of my zeal.f 

* Jacques Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 

f Lives of SS. Thyrsus and Bassianus, Boll. Boudon, Devot. to the 
Nine Choirs of Angels. 



III. 



HE child was presented at the 

sacred font. I was full of 

•V 

joy. It seemed to me that I 
m was myself about to receive some 
great favor.* 

“ Flow, regenerating water! spread 
thyself upon its brow; and may I see as soon 
as possible its soul such as my love desires.” 

But no. . . . Standing face to face with 
Satan, the minister of Jesus Christ will not 
send away the usurper without humbling 
him. 


* St. J. Chrysostom, Sermon on the Ascension. St. Thomas Vil- 
lavona, Sermon on the Angels. 

19 


20 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Under the veil of the exorcisms, I saw the 
priest chain him, scourge him, pierce him 
with darts. What cries that angel of evil 
uttered ! Each anointing lit up within him 
the fire of a new hell.* 

The priest gave him only the withering 
names of unclean spirit, of spirit worthy of 
damnation, of damned spirit. He recalled 
to him the anathema he incurred, the second 
judgment he is to undergo, the increase of 
woe that awaited him, and forced him to 
give glory to the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, t 

The water flowed at last. What virtue in 
a drop of water! All the wonders of grace 
were contained in it. From the instant it 
touched the brow of the new-born infant there 
were no stains, no malediction and, no death. 
Satan had fled swift as lightning; the Spirit 
of Love had come down, and from heaven 

* St. Cyprian, Letter to Magnus. St. Basil Caesar, Homily on 
Humility. Life of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Boll, 
f Ceremonies of Baptism. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


21 


a voice made itself heard, “This is my 
child” * 

For this child of men become a child of 
God, everything had changed: it was called 
by a new name, a new family had adopted it, 
a new life circulated in its members. To sin 
had succeeded grace. From the hands of 
Satan, it had just passed into the hands of an 
angel, f 

Nothing was indifferent to its happiness. 
The fingers of the elect had swept the harps 
of gold, and in hell the demons had roared. 
Two souls, that had just made for it a profes¬ 
sion of faith, looked on it as their child, and 
from the borders of its country a saint had 
bent toward the exile and said, “ I will be 
thy protector.” J 

* St. Matthew, iii. Tertullian, Tract on Baptism. Life of St. Mary 
d’Oignies, Boll. 

fOrigen, Horn, in Ezechiel. Life of St. Bassianus, Boll. 

j St. Gregory Naz., on Baptism. Life of St. Genevieve, Boll. 



IV. 


t* 


|°N the return from the temple 
I helped to carry the child. 

I hastened to bless its crib. 
Its mother placed it there, after 
having fondly kissed it with reli¬ 
gious respect. I watched like herself 
over this dear treasure. My wings 
were folded over it and protected its slumber. 
Its eyelid opened and closed under my look. 
The beating of its heart filled me with joy.* 
“ Sleep, sleep, under the wing of thy 
angel. There hast thou nothing to fear; 
thou art at the threshold of paradise. 



* Louis of Blois, Retreat of the Faithful Soul. 


22 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


23 


“ What charms does a smile of Divine good¬ 
ness give to the humblest of creatures! 

“ ’T is that makes from foul clay bud forth 
daily the rose and the lily. 

“Come! O my brothers in heaven; the 
earth has spectacles worthy of you. 

“ Here, in the darkness, is the star of a day 
destined to shine for eternity. 

“ Under these bonds, and in this frail body, 
you can contemplate your most beautiful 
image.” * 

Thus, by the couch where innocence slept, 
I sang the riches of grace. 

I could not resist the joy of giving an 
outward mark of my content. 

One morning the happy mother heard a 
voice that came from the crib. She looked, 
and saw a dove that played around the awak¬ 
ened infant. She ran to seize it. The dove 
did not fly away, but vanished in an instant 
at the very place where it had just appeared.f 

* St. Thomas de Villanova, on the Angels, 
f Life of St. Neophyte, Boll. 


24 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


The mother understood that only an angel 
could make such a manifestation of himself, 
and, falling on her knees, she thanked me 
for the good-will I showed her child. 




lie little lOvotlicr, 


E was a child of God, as I 
Avas, but I Avas his elder bro- 
IQ ') «?§ ther, and the Heavenly Father 
had intrusted my little brother 
to me.* 

“ Thou shalt bear him the most 
tender affection/’ had He said to 
and thou Avilt find in my heart the 
measure of thy devotion.” 

I gazed upon the heart of God, and I saAV 
there the source Avhence welled forth the Cre¬ 
ation, the Incarnation, the Redemption, the 
Blessed Eucharist, f 


me; 


(C 


* Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 

f S. Bernard, Sermon on St. Michael. Pierre de Blois, Sermon on 
St. Michael. Louis de Blois, Retreat of a Faithful Soul. 

3 25 




2 C> 


MEMOIRS OF A 


At the sight of this measureless chain of 
wonders — each link of which bore the 
impress of infinite charity — I was over¬ 
whelmed. The clear light of glory even 
could not unveil to me the depth of such 
mysteries, and the language spoken in heaven 
was powerless to tell my transports. 

But when, after admiring this love, I be¬ 
came the instrument of it, with what fire did 
I burn! 

In bestowing by my hands, the Heavenly 
Father filled me with the sentiments that led 
Him to give. My duties made me a sharer 
in His tenderness, and caused me to taste its 
delights. I lived no longer for myself only. 
Henceforth there was one life in two beings. 
I felt urged to impart to my brother the per¬ 
fections I had received. 

God was working in me. He watched 
with my eyes, He heard with my ear, He 

* St. Hilary of Poitiers, Comment, on the 129th Psalm. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


27 


ran with my feet, He flew with my wings, 
loved with my heart.* 

I was the personification of His providence, 
and I felt the unspeakable joy of loading 
with favors the little brother He had given 
me.* 

* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 113, art. 5. 




VI. 


mtm* 


p<jjrcISIBLE to those in heaven, on 
earth I eluded every human 
eye. Like the adorable Prov¬ 
idence I represented, I only made 
known my presence by my ben¬ 
efits. 

One day, however, I made a re¬ 
flection of my beauty pass before the eyes of 
this young soul. I did not manifest to her 
all my brilliancy. No one in exile could 
bear the full sight of an angel in glory. I 
borrowed sensible forms, and during sleep I 
allowed her to look upon me.* 



* St. Ambrose, Comment, on St. Luke. Origen, Comment, on St. 
Luke. Life of St. Bridget, Boll. 


28 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


29 


I appeared to her with a shining counte¬ 
nance, with flowing hair, with a crown of 
flowers on my head, with a tunic of azure 
girt with gold, and with wings of white.* 

“ Wings! wings for me, too ! ” cried the 
child, in transport, and holding out its arms 
to me.f 

Wings! was not that all it wanted to be 
an angel ? I gave them to it in its dream. 
What raptures of delight! Lighter than a 
bird, it darted away — it flew. . . .{ 

“ Look ! ” cried the child. “ I can follow 
my guide everywhere. Without trouble I 
raise myself with him above the clouds; I am 
going to take my seat in the bright places 
of heaven; I balance myself in the rays of 
the sun ; I see the stars under my feet; im¬ 
mense space only is over me. The angels 
salute me; the blessed recognize me as one 

* Life of St. Frances of Rome, Boll, 
f Procopius of Gaza, Comment, on Numbers, 
j Nicetas, Comment, on St. Michael and St. Gabriel. 

3 * 


30 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


of them; little children smile on me; Mary 
gives me her hand; Jesus blesses me. . . .” 

All at once the babe awakes. He searches, 
he cries. . . . “ What has become of them ? ” 
“ Be comforted, captive angel: if thou be 
pure, one day thy wings will be given thee; 
the dream will become real.” 

It was in this way I began to draw him 
toward heaven, inspiring him with love for 
those beautiful things the gross senses can 
never comprehend.* 

* Theodoret, Comment, on Daniel. 





VII. 



WAS not alone. By the side 
of the infant, with me, were 
two valuable aids. 

One had as his heritage wis¬ 
dom and authority, and was dis¬ 
tinguished for the energy of his 
faith. The other, by the sweetness 
of her look, and the goodness that showed 
itself in her smile, revealed the amiable piety 
that animated her. 

Such Christian parents filled the sanc¬ 
tuary of infancy with the perfume of their 
virtue. 

Their concurrence was my strength. If 

31 


32 


MEMOIRS OF A 


they were able to do nothing without me, 
what could I have done without them ? 
How many of my brothers have seen their 
efforts paralyzed, from having been deprived 
of such aid! * 

Without understanding what she saw, the 
young soul was struck by it, and kept the 
memory of it. Like a spotless mirror, she 
reflected the pious pictures hung on the 
walls, the rosary in the hands of her 
mother, the book from which holy teaching 
was read, the crucifix before which prayers 
were said. 

All the little domestic scenes were re¬ 
produced there in the light of grace, and 
each person left there a trace of the part he 
played. 

To know the history of this family it was 
enough to see it. 

Her imagination, her memory, her spirit 
received, from without, salutary impressions. 


* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 113, art. 4. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


33 


On arriving at the age of reason, she will 
be already formed to good. 

Wisdom will have come before it, and, 
without having been sought, will have be¬ 
come her companion. 

C 




VIII. 


N spite of my care and of that 
°f i * 8 parents, this child could 
have made shipwreck. He 
had received from God free-will. 
^ The crown of the elect is a gift, 
but it is a recompense too. The 
Creator gives it only to the merit of 
the creature. It depends on man to be good, 
or become wicked. If he wishes, he will be 
saved; if he is lost, he has willed it himself.* 
Limited to counsel and to persuasion, my 
part was a source of the most delightful 
emotions, as well as of the most poignant 
anxiety. 

* St. Thomas of Villanova, Sermon on the Glory of Heaven. 

84 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


35 


The spirit that leads a world through space 
admires its docility, i How greatly was I 
compelled to admire that of an intelligent 
soul! The first time that she turned to God 
under my influence, I was filled with joy. 
But the fear of resistance to my voice was to 
me not without bitterness. 

This harp, just now tuned by my hands to 
give forth accents of innocence, of humility, 
of charity, may to-morrow by caprice give 
herself over to Satan, and utter gross sounds 
of luxury, of pride, of envy, and of all the 
criminal passions. 

I was like a mother who would see her 
child on the brink of a precipice. She calls, 
she cries out, she entreats. On his part a 
wicked heart urges the imprudent one to close 
his eyes, to take one step more. . . . Which 
voice will the child heed ? Alas, who could 
tell ? He is free.* 

O Liberty ! who, then, of angels or of 


* Peter of Poitiers, Sentences, iib. ii. 


36 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


men, will dare look on thee without fear ? 
Thou art truly the tree, of life and of death; 
thou bearest the fruits of salvation and of 
perdition. Gathered with discernment, they 
give the joys of immortality; plucked at 
hazard, they cause grief without end. To 
thee are due the delights of heaven; from 
thee have come the horrors of hell! 



IX. 


mtttowa* 


OT only could the child resist 
my influence, but it could also 
take from me the sight of its 
heart.* 

’T is a privilege given to man 
as well as to the angel to be master 
of himself, and to have a power over 
his interior feelings that no creature can 
share. 

God only can, without their consent, pene¬ 
trate the secrets of the angelic and of the 
human heart. 

As a lily opens under the rays of the 



* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 57, art. 4. Bail., Th6ol. Affect, des 
Angee. 


4 


37 



38 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


sun, the young soul had unfolded herself to 
my eye, and had revealed what was hidden 
from others. I saw there thoughts arise, 
judgments formed, the affections grow, inten¬ 
tions directed to their aim. 

One day every thing vanished from my 
sight. By an unfortunate impulse, the soul 
closed upon herself, veiled her beauty, and hid 
from me her treasures. 

A strange breath had passed over the 
flower, and the flower had shut up its chalice. 
Great was my distress! How could I, with¬ 
out the inward view of this soul, cultivate in 
her good feelings and holy thoughts ? — fight 
against evil thoughts and feelings ? 

But this state did not last long. 

Simplicity and candor opened the sanctu¬ 
ary to me anew, and I came back to discharge 
there my sweet duties. 

Without hindrance I could contemplate 
the glory of my lily, and bring to it its drop 
of dew. 



X. 


iju fruits, 

3?y. 

3fN its knees, its hands joined, 
looking toward heaven, the 
child said, “Jesus! Mary!” 
Just as a flower, on opening when 
morning dawns, breathes forth 
first perfume, so the innocent soul 
sent up her first prayer to God. 

He who presides over the harmony of 
worlds and gives enchantment to the melody 
of our music, bent forward and gave ear. No 
chord seemed to have for him a charm like 
that of this infant voice. 

Strengthened by faith, the reason of the 
child began to discern between good and evil. 

39 



40 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Fearing to offend a God so good, whom he 
saw served with love by his father and mo¬ 
ther, he kept from the evil that would have 
flattered his passions, and did the good that 
cost him effort. 

This sacrifice was nothing in the eyes of 
men; but offered on the immaculate altar of 
a young heart, the first act of virtue was 
accepted as a victim of great price. 

What emotions did I experience! what 
hopes I conceived! 

This first flower told of a delightful spring; 
in the first grains I saw a splendid harvest; 
to this beautiful dawn a most beautiful future 
was to succeed. 

The seed I had intrusted to the soil had 
not perished; it had put forth its shoot, and 
had just blossomed. 

This spectacle made me redouble my vigil¬ 
ance ; it had excited the jealousy of Satan. 
Satan, too, wished to have his first fruits. 



XI. 




HE infernal serpent succeeded 
in gliding into the paradise 
of innocence, and all at once 
was seen among the children of 
God.* 

He had not only borrowed from man 
his voice: he had taken also his counte¬ 
nance, bearing, and exterior. He had become 
incarnate in a vicious young man, and it was 
that moved the young man’s tongue, eyes, 
and hands.f Under the mask of this instru¬ 
ment no one could detect him. He ap- 



* Job i. 6. 

4 * 


t Tertullian, De Spectaculis. 

41 


42 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


proached without exciting distrust, and came 
to play with his victim. 

To taint a soul so pure, to tear from God 
a heart so devoted to him — what a triumph! 

The child looked smilingly at the sword, 
caressed the hand of the murderer, bent over 
the abyss, ran every risk. 

Where was I then ? At his side, I redoubled 
my care; I spread my wings before his eyes, 
and I protected him with an invisible cuirass. 

He was safe. The tooth of the tawny 
beast had but touched the fleece of my little 
lamb. The cruel wolf had to fly without 
having glutted his rage. 

But during this scene the sight of the 
Divine Face had enkindled my zeal; my 
anger was roused; my indignation burst forth. 

Against the corrupter I lanced the maledic¬ 
tion with which each guardian angel is armed 
by God, the friend and protector of infancy.*)* 

*St. Thomas of Yillanova, On the Angels. John Lopez, Abridg¬ 
ment of the Doctrine of the Fathers, 
f St. Matt, xviii. 6,10. 



XII. 


ok 





Y little brother was running 
there upon the lawn; I was 
® with him, and followed each 
one of his movements.* 

An insect, that had sucked from 
the juice of plants a subtle poison, 
came flying about him. The child 
tried to catch it, to seize it. . . . With a 
breath I chased away the insect, and saved 
my brother. 

Over the grass a venomous serpent was 
gliding. With its eye on fire, darting forth its 
forked tongue, it was about to spring. With 


* J. Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. Life of St. Bridget, Boll. 

43 


44 


MEMOIRS OF A 


the tip of my wing I made a beautiful but¬ 
terfly leave the bosom of a rose. The child 
took to following it: the reptile was avoided. 

These almost daily accidents were not the 
only ones in which I was obliged to interfere. 
There were others that required a visible 
aid.* 

The angel of death had just touched the 
brow of the child with his sceptre: a deathly 
pallor and motionless members told that life 
was departing. 

The parents at once turn to me: shall I 
not be able to give back to them him who 
was their happiness, and who should be the 
prop of their old age, the light of their eyes, 
the joy of their fireside? 

If his virtue were hereafter only to make 
sad shipwreck, ? mid the rocks of this world, 
I should prefer seeing him, at this moment, 
called, and safe in port. 

* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 113, art. 6. St. Anthony of Padua, 
Sermons. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 45 

But the watchfulness and counsels of a 
father and of a mother, penetrated with a 
sense of their duty, made me argue better of 
him, and I besought the Heavenly Physician 
to deign to hear their vows. My prayer had 
its wished-for acceptance. From the celestial 
heights Raphael was sent, the comforter of 
the sick and the weak. 

The archangel came to me, and gave me 
the remedy, and said to me: “ It belongs to 
thee to apply it, but to God to give it effi¬ 
cacy.” * 

I bent over the child; I traced on his 
brow the cross. . . . He was healed! 

On waking as from a deep sleep, he cast 
around him a look of astonishment: “Why,” 
he asked, “ these cries, and these tears.” f 

What thanksgiving on the part of the 
parents ! But neither Raphael nor I could 
take to ourselves the honor of such a favor. 


* Origen, Comment, on Jeremiah li. 

f Lives of St. Thyrsus, of St. Cuthbert, of St. Udalric, Boll. 


46 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Only to God, whom we serve, be the honor 
and the glory ! From Him alone flows all 
the good that comes to man, through the min¬ 
istry of the angels.* 


* Tobias xii. 6. 



XIII. 



LED him to the priest, who 
was giving, in the temple, in- 
struction to youth.* 

^ The good pastor was seen sur¬ 
rounded by little children. The 
affection he showed them brought to 
my mind that of the Saviour. He knew all 
intimately, he called them by name, and 
treated them with respect. He saw in them 
the infant Jesus, and used, in correcting their 
faults, the zeal and delicacy he would have 
shown in assuaging their sorrows.f 


* St. Gregory Thaumat., Eulogium of Origen. 
f Lives of St. Lactimis, St. Infant, and of St. M. Magdalen de’ 
Pazzi, Boll. 


47 




48 


MEMOIRS OF A 


“Dear little children,” he would say to 
them, “ I give myself all to you, to teach you 
to know and to bless God; but ask first your 
guardian angels to obtain me light and love.” 

The children offered with joy a prayer, that 
a heart full of sweetness dictated them. We 
accepted it at once, and like doves, we 
mounted to heaven, whence we brought pre¬ 
cious graces. The humble catechist thus 
made our presence at his lessons useful. 

From the beginning to the end my good¬ 
will was shared between the master and 
pupil. The master captivated me by the skill 
with which he brought down to the capacity 
of a child treasures gathered by long study. 
The disciple touched me in receiving with 
open trustfulness the highest mysteries. I 
was not idle. I seconded the zeal of the priest, 
and his pupil was always mine. I chased 
away the mists from the mind of the child, 
and gave his understanding more clearness 
and extent. I gave truth brighter colors, and 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


49 


made more transparent the veils through 
which its light came. I placed in relief the 
beauties- of faith, the charms of virtue, the 
magnificence of religion. I ceased not from 
fighting against sloth, the perfidious demon 
that kills in their germ the richest qualities 
and the purest talent.* 

With such aid, fervor had advanced with 
knowledge, and the heart had acquired the 
admirable sensibility a lively faith gives. 

One day his feelings could not be re¬ 
strained. A pious voice was telling of the 
sufferings and death of the Redeemer. The 
child felt his soul rent with grief, and a tear 
moistened his eyelid. How beautiful he 
seemed to me! how touching was his look! 
More than one seraphim in his heavenly 
country envied this tear of a child in exile. 

*St. Nilns, On Prayer. St. Sophronius, On the Angels. St. Denis, 
On the Celestial Hierarchy. St. Bernard, Comment, on Canticle of 
Canticles. Evagrius of Pont. Euxin., Letter to Anatolius. Life of 
St. Andrew Salus, Boll. 

5 


D 



XIV. 



ITH his longings he bade the 
beautiful day come. Like 
him, I awaited its coming 
with impatience. From the eve, 
angels and children were together 
at the foot of the altar. The souls 
of the future communicants had just 
been purified. The imperfections that re¬ 
mained were thrown into the bosom of 
mercy or disappeared like straws in the 
furnace. 

A God was to be received: it was a heaven 
that we had wished to prepare. In those 
souls we had made shine the precious stones 

50 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


51 


of faith, of charity, of modesty, of humility, of 
devotedness. * We contemplated their beauty, 
and we showed to each other the crowns we 
held over their heads. Our own did not seem 
to us to shed a sweeter perfume. 

My pupil passed the day under the influ¬ 
ence of a smiling dream with which I had 
favored him during the night. 

In the midst of the open heavens I had 
shown him the Son of God, carrying His 
Body, under the form of food, and presenting 
It to the Angels. The angels immediately 
hastened to Him, and prepared to receive It. 
With a sign He motioned them away, and, 
pointing out to them, on earth, the children 
grouped around the Sacred Table, said, 
“ There are my guests! ” “ Happy chil¬ 

dren ! ” cried the angels. 

By this picture I had given him an idea 
of the goodness and condescension of God 
toward him. 


* St. J. Chrysostom, Sermon 21. Odo of Cluny, Comment, on Job. 


XV. 


STE angel had remained silent 
and sorrowful: his hand car¬ 
ried no crown. He said to 
weeping: 

‘ Happy angels, your portion 
; your brother’s, grief! Yet 
a few hours, and the soul that God has in¬ 
trusted to me will be covered with profaned 
blood, and will have in reserve for her only 
anathemas. Sin is in her heart, and with sin 
the bonds, the reed, the scourges, the thorns, 
the cross, the nails, the lance, death ! 99 * 

We joined our prayers with those of the 

* Pierre le Chantre, Verbum Abbreyiatum, 30. 

52 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


53 


angel: no effect. In the midst of the light 
that flooded us there was that sinister shadow. 

A thought came to me. I gave the child 
I loved above all, a secret presentiment of 
what he did not know. Under the stimulus 
of grace he became recollected. His counte¬ 
nance expressed alarm. I suggested to him 
these words: 

“No, my God, I will never betray thee. 
I am firmly convinced of this. But this 
frightful misfortune! ah, if it were to happen 
to one of my companions. ... I conjure 
Thee, O Sovereign Master of hearts, work a 
miracle of thy mercy, rather than permit 
any one of us to give Thee into the power of 
the devil and crucify Thee! ” * 

While our Lord was receiving this prayer, 
a crown fell from heaven into the hands of 
the angel in tears. 

The young sinner had risen; he had 
trampled under foot false shame; his fault 


* Life of St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, Boll. 


54 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


had been remitted. All hearts were pure, 
all countenances serene.* 

But two angels seemed more joyful than 
the rest, and felt themselves mutually drawn 
toward each other by the liveliest sympathy: 
the angel of the child that had been con¬ 
verted, and the angel of the child that had 
prayed. 

* Life of St. Paul the Simple, Boll. 





XVI. 



hm 



HEN he awoke, his heart 
bounded within him. Is this 
the dawn of the day of joy ? 
often has it been the object of 
r impatience! Is it not a new 
on ? * 

Bending over him, I said as Gabriel to 
Mary: “ Hail! child full of grace, to-day thy 
Lord is going to be with thee, and thou shalt 
be blessed among all children.” 

With a joyous expanse of heart, he said to 
me: “ Be it done unto me according to thy 



* Life of St. Mary Magd. de’ Pazzi. 


55 



56 


MEMOIRS OF A 


word, O my good angel! and may the will 
of God be accomplished in me.” 

Two festive bands set out to meet each 
other. 

On the part of the earth came the young 
child. To present him to his Lord he had 
not only his angel, but his father, his mother, 
his brothers, his friends, his teachers, the 
confidant of his first frailties, the whole 
Church. All were happy to see him ad¬ 
mitted among the guests of Jesus Christ.* 

From heaven came down the God of youth, 
accompanied by the angels. The inhabitants 
of that country of us all could not sufficiently 
admire his condescension. What they pos¬ 
sessed and saw unveiled in the bosom of 
glory, was about to bestow itself on an ob¬ 
scure child, f 

On one side and on the other there were 
lights, incense, and music. 

* Life of St. Colomba of Rieti, of St. Luthgarde, Boll, 
f St. James of Jerusalem, The Holy Mass. Lives of SS. Angela, 
Veronica, Cath. of Siena, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


57 


At the approach of Jesus I ran to pros¬ 
trate myself before him. Majesty crowned 
His brow; grace reposed upon His lips; 
blessings beamed from His eye; in His 
hands dwelt almighty power.* 

I accompanied Him to the throne that 
awaited Him. “ All here belongs to Thee, 
Lord! this body and this soul, these faculties 
and these senses shall be employed only for 
Thy service, and in this sanctuary only Thy 
love shall reign.” 

I took these resolutions, with which I had 
inspired my brother, and presented them to 
the Guest of his heart. Jesus answered me: 

“ Thou, thyself, O my faithful servant, 
shalt watch over these treasures, and guard 
them from the evil spirit.” 

Among the angels there arose a holy envy: 
to repose on the bosom of Jesus, like the 
well-beloved disciple; to receive Jesus in his 
body, and have him dwell in his soul; what 


* Life of St. Angela. 


58 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


touching familiarity! what intimate union! 
To which of the pure spirits was there ever 
granted anything like this ? * 

The child was in the midst of these mag¬ 
nificent realities: he knew it: he was pene¬ 
trated with it; but he saw them only through 
the shadow of faith. He was like a blind 
man walking through a garden of delight, 
culling there the Divine fruit, tasting its 
sweetness, but unable to contemplate its 
beauty. 

* Thilip tho Solitary, Letter to the Monk Callirus. 




XVII. 



Ijkawt of 


ROM this instant my affection 
for the young man was joined 
with the greatest respect. A 
God dwelt in him: it was the 
bearer of Christ whom I had to 
lead* 

The God of the Eucharist had taken pos¬ 
session of his soul to guide her growing 
powers; He made her live of His life, that 
He might crown her with His virtues. 

When a choice bud has been engrafted on 
a wild trunk, the tree soon sends upward 


* St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, 4, 


59 




60 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


toward heaven fruitful branches, and beholds 
with astonishment this new foliage, and this 
fruit not its own. 

So the soul, through her union with Jesus, 
became enriched with merits foreign to her 
nature, which, by her unaided powers, she 
never could have acquired. One would say 
it was a heavenly growth acclimated on earth, 
and flourishing there by a superior virtue. 

But at the same time that my respect for 
the young man had increased, my fear in pres¬ 
ence of the Divine Majesty had diminished. 

Softened by the eucharistic veils, the ador¬ 
able light had become accessible to my look, 
and I was the less dazzled by it the closer I 
considered it. 

My relations with the God made Man 
were direct and constant. My duties had 
gained me the privilege of an ineffable inti¬ 
macy. In their discharge rights were granted 
me to which the noblest of creatures would 
not of itself have dared pretend. 


XVIII. 


^Vscutittimt to 


atttt 



EHOLD, O Blessed Mother, 
thy child; behold him singing, 
like thee, his magnificat, for 
the God who putteth down the 
haughty and raiseth up the hum¬ 
ble has just cast upon him His 


glance.” 

The reception was full of the outpouring 
of love. Without being seen, Mary drew 
him to her, and honored him with her 
caresses.* 

“It was thus,” said she, “that Jesus was 
sweet and modest, affectionate and confiding. 


6 


Life of St. Angela, Boll. 


61 


62 


MEMOIRS OF A 


These are His eyes, His features, His bearing. 
Jesus himself is before me. My two sons 
are but one, through the sacrament of love.” 

Pressing around us, the angels exclaimed 
to each other in admiration: 

“ What resemblance to the Divine Youth 
of Judea ! Would it not be said that Jesus 
is between Mary and Joseph? The same 
innocence, the same docility, the same devo¬ 
tion ! ” 

The child said to Mary : 

“ Every day, O my Mother! this prince 
of Thy court, whom Thou have given me 
for my guide,' will offer you my prayers, and 
will load me with Thy favors. Led by 
him, I will brave the tribulations of this 
earth, and shall reach the repose of heaven, 
the common meeting-place of Thy children.” 

No word human or angelic could tell the 
impressions I had while I was the means 
of communion between these two hearts. 
Through me communed mother and child, 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


63 


my sovereign and my brother, glory and 
obscurity, home and exile. 

Placed at the point of contact between two 
worlds, one hand raised toward the most be¬ 
loved creature of heaven, the other given to 
him I loved best on earth, I was the per¬ 
petual echo of maternal tenderness and filial 
piety. Through my heart sighs went up, 
and blessings descended. 




XIX. 


Min 



went to those founts that 

a 

4^ send throughout the earth life 
^ drawn from heaven. 

“ See,” said I, “ thy true country. 
’T is there thou wert born to grace, 
and wert adopted by that family of 
which God is the Father, Mary the 
mother, Jesus the eldest son, Christians the 
children, Angels the ministers.* 

He renewed his protestations of fidelity to 
Jesus, his renouncement of the world, his 
anathemas against Satan. 

The water of his baptism had been reli- 


* St. Leo, Serm. 5 on the Nativity. 


64 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


65 


giously preserved. It was placed before him. 
He kissed with grateful love the vase that 
held it, and wished to have a drop placed on 
his brow.* 

In these pious transports he breathed forth 
from his heart these words I suggested to him: 

“ Dear waters, you grow large before my 
eyes, and take the proportions of a vast river. 

“ You recall the wonders more touching to 
me than those the Jordan saw, and you are 
yourself my Jordan, my well-beloved river. 

u You saw miracles greater than the pas¬ 
sage of the Red Sea by Moses, and were the 
tomb of an enemy deadlier than Pharaoh. 

“ It was in your bosom I found the way to 
the land of promise, and I owe it to you that 
I dwell in it to-day, to quench my thirst 
at refreshing springs, to purify myself in 
limpid streams, to breathe saving perfumes, 
to cull the fruits of life. 

“ Happy day of my baptism, I shall never 

* Custom of some Christian families. 

6 * E 


66 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


forget thee! Sweet country, I will come 
often in thought to tread thy blessed soil, and 
seek in my native air the support of my 
strength. Heavenly laver, receive anew my 
soul, and penetrate it with thy Divine salt. 

“ Generous Liberator, on the scene of Thy 
benefits, only one favor more I ask, that of 
being all my life worthy of Thee.” 




XX. 


It 


O preserve the nobility of his 
soul and defend the honor of 
his God, the young man was to 
have many rude assaults to sustain. 
Foreseeing this, the Church 
wished to early arm the soldier of 
Christ. A new sacrament, Confirma¬ 
tion, wrought this consecration to heaven. 

The imposition of hands, the sign of the 
cross, oil, balsam, a few words were what 
struck the senses and appeared without. But 
within and under the material symbols, what 
phenomena and what realities! * 



*Tertullian, Tract, de Resurrectione, 8. 


67 


68 


MEMOIRS OF A 


On the forehead of the young man was 
stamped a character destined to proclaim his 
rights and recall his engagements. It was 
like a radiant star, the brightness of which 
could be dimmed, but could not be extin¬ 
guished. Brave or cowardly, faithful or 
traitorous, for his glory or for his shame, the 
young soldier will bear this mark forever. 

Seven mysterious elements composed the 
armor with which he was covered. Each 
was a special gift of God, and had a distinct 
name. They were called Wisdom, Under¬ 
standing, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, 
Piety, and Fear. 

They were united and blended together by 
the action of the Holy Ghost, who dwelt in 
them, and made them resplendent. 

Such an armor brought with it victory. 
Neither arrow nor sword could make any 
Impression on it. 

Henceforth, to triumph, the soldier had 
only to will it. He could await with a firm 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 69 

foot the most redoubtable antagonists. At 
his wish he would find skill for the contest, 
courage for the combat, heroism in the melee 
of battle. 

Encased in his buckler, with a heart full 
of Divine fire, he was a terror to demons, and 
seemed to them like the Archangel Michael. 
The rays that darted from his brow wounded 
their eyes and compelled them to withdraw. 

Let him watch, however, let him be on his 
guard ; let him never leave bare that breast, 
to-day so well protected. His implacable 
enemy, counting on a favorable day, sharpens 
his sword and his darts. 




XXI. 


m 


mu 



IGHT and day I heard the lion 
roar, and I saw him prowling 
about us, with a rage nothing 
could appease. He scented a prey 
whose presence did not cease to 
excite in him a thirst for blood.* 
The angels of David, of Arche- 
laus, of Enthymins, of Martin, of Emilian, 
of Clement of Ancyra, gave to savage beasts 
the gentleness of lambs. The infernal beast 
alone never laid aside his ferocity, f 

Wounded by the hunter, the panther turns 


* St. Germanus of Constantinople, Sermon on the Burial of our 
Lord. 

f Lives of several Saints, Bollandists. 


70 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 71 

with bloodshot eye, and seeks its enemy. If 
it cannot seize him, it springs upon anything 
that bears the slightest resemblance to him, 
and tears it to pieces. 

So does also the devil. Pierced by an 
arrow he cannot draw out, and seeing the 
Divine Hunter beyond his reach, he circles 
round him with a threatening look.* 

Living images of God — souls astray upon 
the earth, tremble! 

The devil enjoys the ill caused to man, as 
if it were done to God. In dethroning God 
from a heart, it seems to him that he has 
banished Him from heaven. 

To gain a soul of which he was in search, 
Satan would willingly have given up a host 
of other victims. It seemed to him that this 
one would have brought him a much greater 
number of them. Vice would have found, 
in the charms of a disposition by nature 
good, a powerful means of propagating itself. 


*Gennadius, Fragments on Genesis. 


72 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


And if the traitor had succeeded in making 
this captive an instrument of death, with 
what torments would he not have recom¬ 
pensed this complacency ! To outrage God 
and torture souls is the aim from which the 
hatred of Satan never swerves. 

At his approach I felt the hand of the 
young man clasp mine more strongly, and I 
heard him say, “ Save me, I perish ! ” * 

He did not perish, for he feared. His fear, 
mingled with confidence, kept him under my 
wings, and was his safety. 

* St. Bernard, Comm, on Ps. xc. 




XXII. 



-s~ 

KILLED in dissimulation, the 
malignant spirit did not at¬ 
tack with open force whom he 
wished to destroy ; he was satisfied 
with laying snares for him. The 
angel of darkness transformed him¬ 
self into an angel of light.* 


How often would the young man have 
allowed himself to be deceived, had I not 
aided him to foil the treachery of the Evil 
One! f 

One night, Satan appeared to him accom- 


*2d Epistle to the Corinthians xi.14. Raoul Ardent, On the Holy 
Angels. St. Chrysostom, Comm, on St. Matt. 

f St. Pantales, Discourse on St. Michael. Raoul Ardent, On the 
Holy Angels. 

7 


73 



74 


MEMOIRS OF A 


panied by spirits that surrounded a shining 
chariot. 

“ See this chariot of fire,” said the tempter; 
“ it is that which brought Elias up to heaven. 
I come to take you as I took him. You 
are so virtuous that the Apostles, Martyrs, 
Prophets, Angels, Mary herself, long to have 
you in their company, and enjoy your pres¬ 
ence. Yield to their wishes; mount, and we 
go.” 

The youth had risen, he had approached the 
fiery car; he was about to place his foot upon 
it. . . . “A sign of the cross,” said his 
angel to him. At this sacred symbol the 
illusion vanished, and he saw only the abyss 
into which he would inevitably have fallen.* 

He promised thenceforward to distrust all 
flattering speech, and this cautious conduct 
was his best safeguard. 

Every time he was addressed with praises 


* Life of St. Simon Stylites, by St. Anthony. Life of St. John the 
Hermit, by Palladius. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


75 


of his piety or of his talents, a cloud of 
demons flew about him, impatient to see him 
take pleasure in it. I would take him then 
in my arms, cover him with my wings, and 
snatch him from the peril he was in.* 

Thanks to the confidence he showed me, 
he was able to avoid the stone in his path, 
escape the arrows that flew in the night, tread 
upon the asp and the basilisk, join me in my 
triumph over Lucifer, and overthrow the 
Apostate, f 

♦Life of St. Macarius of Egypt, by Bollandists. 
f 90th Psalm, and Commentaries on it. 




XXIII. 



E was already bearing aloft his 
Sjp banner against the spirit that 
had deserted his Master. Upon 
it was seen the chief of the heav¬ 
enly hosts striking the dragon to 
the earth, and on it were read in 
flaming characters the words : “ Who is like 
unto God?” 

Under the shadow of this banner, or rather 
in the light of it, not one victory only, but 
many victories were gained every day. 

Victory in the respect for the name of God, 
in the face of the countless array of blas¬ 
phemers ; victory in the flight from impure 

76 





GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


77 


vice, in the midst of so many depraved 
hearts; victory in the contempt of seduc¬ 
tive scandal, despite perpetual solicitations; 
victory in faithfulness to duty when unfaith¬ 
fulness seemed to have become a title to 
glory. 

At each victory thus obtained, in the name 
of the immortal King of Ages, and in His 
presence, I placed on the breast of the obscure 
hero a new mark of honor. Men did not see 
it, but angels admired it, and bade him be 
happy in the possession of it. 

O noble breast! which covered itself 
with unspotted honor, and drew down the 
approving look of God ! * 

Between God and the devil there existed a 
contest with regard to this young man: who 
was to win his homage ? who was to have his 
services ? 

Glory to God ! Confusion to the devil! 


* St. Isidore Pelusiota, Letter to Dorotheus the Scholastic. 


78 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Up to this time such had been the fruit of his 
devotion. 

He was going from triumph to triumph, and 
was becoming rich in shining merit. Satan 
furnished him continual occasions for it, and 
gathered, without willing it, flowers for his 
crown. 

Exercise kept him from being enervated. 
In action he showed more manly traits, and 
the image of God stamped itself on his soul 
in deeper lines.* 

The prism under the eye of man divides 
the ray of light, and makes the colors of the 
rainbow burst forth. Just so struggle and 
trial, finding in a heart piety thus far uniform, 
made it give birth to the variety of Christian 
virtues. A more beautiful holiness, fruit of 
effort and combat, had taken the place of the 
infused and purely passive sanctity of his 
earlier days. 

* St. John Chrysostom, Comm, on St. Matthew. St Peter Damian, 
Opusc. *23. 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


79 


How much did the Evil One suffer at thy 
sight ? He only could tell. Simplicity 
tortured him, humility crushed him, charity 
crucified him.* 


* St. Bernard, Serm. on Dedication. 



XXIV. 


ilUJitjU 


,OW beautiful were those days 
• 

of innocence and of fervor ! 
I urn Everything in them breathed 
candor and purity, confidence and 
love. Fatherly tenderness on the 
one side, and filial piety on the other, 
held each other in perpetual embrace. 
No fault had changed these delightful re¬ 
lations. 

When the father bent over his son, his look 
showed no trace of discontent or reproach. 
When the child threw himself on the bosom 
of his father, it was with entire self-abandon¬ 
ment. His fear had nothing servile in it: it 

80 






GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


81 


came from love, and was but an exquisite 
delicacy. The freedom of heart with which 
after some forgetfulness he ran to ask pardon, 
gave him a new charm. His father knew his 
frailty; he never lost sight of the indulgence 
of his father. 

Oh, how sweet is it to protect him who has 
never yet disobeyed ! The guidance of this 
innocent soul brought me each moment new 
joys. I had my share in the complacency 
of which he was the object. The Divine 
Master, in contemplating him, seemed to say 
to me: 

“ It is well! I recognize in these perfec¬ 
tions the devotion of my minister. Thou 
representest me worthily with my child, and 
thou knowest how to have for him the tender¬ 
ness of a father. I could not better bestow 
my confidence, and I give myself praise for 
having placed my treasure in thy hands. 

“The memory of thy mission shall not be 
absorbed in the delights of heaven; it shall 
F 


82 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


live in glory, and the splendor thou preparest 
for this soul, reflected on thee, shalt announce 
that thou Avert his protector in time, as thou 
shalt be his friend for eternity. Thou shalt 
have the signal honor of having partaken 
with the Son of God made Man in the Avork 
of his salvation.” * 

But these beautiful days, which it seemed 
never ought to have ended, passed aAvay, alas! 
with frightful rapidity, and the firmament, 
until then bright, Avas covered Avith dark 
clouds. 

* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 113, art. 4. St. Thomas of Villanova ; 
On the Angels. 




XXV. 



ATAN seemed to ask so little, 
' A and his voice was so honeyed 
y\ that the young man ended by 
listening to him. He did not 
commit any mortal sin, but he 
. relaxed his fervor and lost his first 

charity.* 

I could not tell how much this weakness 
saddened me; I saw in it the germ of count¬ 
less failings, f 

The young man no longer responded so 
perfectly to my care. He was insensible to 
my inspirations, and neglected the grace I 


83 


* Apocalypse, ii. 4. 

f St. Andrew of Caesarea, Comm, on Apoc. 


84 


MEMOIRS OF A 


obtained for him. Vanity ruined whatever 
was best in him, and presumption made every¬ 
thing dangerous. 

How could I engage that indocile spirit in 
prayer ? How make that unmortified heart 
love virtue? Frivolity alone pleased his 
indolence; he had no taste but for low things. 
Every Christian thought oppressed him. The 
perfumes of Jesus Christ no longer had any 
charm for him.* 

Evil everywhere took the place of good. 
Venial faults accumulated; those of doubt¬ 
ful gravity no longer caused alarm ; crime 
insensibly lost the horror with which it in¬ 
spires delicate souls. 

No good desire came to perfection; no 
saving work was done.f 

There were great merits in this soul: what 
was to become of them ? 

Are we to see a barbarous enemy devastate 


* St. Andrew of Caesarea, Comm, on Apoc. 
f St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Heaven. 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 85 

a land cultivated with so much love, ravage 
a harvest so rich, carry away the fruit of such 
toilsome labors ? 

Behold what infidelity to grace, and con¬ 
tempt of God’s loving preference ! 

My first sorrows were the first joys of 
Satan.* 


* St. Nilus, Letter to the Bishop Aristobulus. 





XXVI. 



\t 


4 *' 


ml 



HE tree now converted the 
precious sap only into vain 
4jyf -w ^ foliage without fruit. It was 
barren in the midst of fertile 
MT soil. A curse could not fail to fall 
Mg® upon it. I saw the axe raised, the 
furnace kindled.* 

I asked pardon; I supplicated, conjured, 
and promised more perfect culture. 

A respite was granted to my urgent de¬ 
mands. What did I not do to turn it to 
account ? What striving ! what efforts.f 


* St. Luke iii. 9. 

fSt. Pantales, Serin, on St. Michael. 


86 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


87 


On the part of the young man I met with 
only distraction and levity, effeminacy and 
disgust. I held out to him my hand, he 
thrust it aside; I showed him the path, he 
turned from it; I called him, he fled.* 

Ah ! had it only been given me to open 
his eyes, could he have failed to shudder ? A 
black cloud, bearing the lightning above his 
head, was growing larger, and, under his 
feet, a vast abyss was opening. But he was 
obstinate in hearing nothing, in seeing no¬ 
thing. 

The Divine Master, irritated by this con¬ 
tempt of His favors, every day became less 
prodigal of them; He was on the eve of 
carrying out one of His most terrible threats; 
His heart was troubled within Him; He was 
about to cast forth from His mouth the luke¬ 
warm servant, f 

The young man dreaded the urgings of 


* Jean Lopes, Abridgment of the Teaching of the Fathers. 
I Apocalypse iii. 16. 


88 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


my love, and sought to escape from them; 
the more ardent my zeal became, the more it 
excited his disgust. 

I was to protect him in the ways in which 
God called him, but not to sustain him among 
all the precipices on which he might choose 
to venture. His presumptuous rashness kept 
my succor at a distance, and made my inter¬ 
ference illusory.* 

And Satan, following his purpose, made 
use of patience nothing could ruffle. As yet 
he did nothing excessive. He did not wish 
to offer open violence to a conscience that 
would have protested; he knew how, in 
lulling it to insensibility, to make ready his 
fatal blow. 

* St. Bernard, Com in. on the 90th Ps. 





XXVII. 


YERYTHING had conspired 
to bring about the fall; and 
it came. I heard a voice of 
hell cry arrogantly : “ Hence, 

God of Heaven ! — God of Cal¬ 
vary and of the Cross, hence! ” * 
u No,” said Satan, “ I did not create this* 
soul; I did not purchase her; I never took 
a body for her; I did not for her undergo 
humiliation, suffer pain. 

“ No one ever saw me, that I might gain 
her love, give my hands to be tied, present 
my cheek to be buffeted, shed my blood, feel 



8* 


* St. Ambrose. 


90 


MEMOIRS OF A 


the horrors of agony, go down to the 
tomb.* 

“ I never offered her a heaven, nor a crown, 
nor a throne. 

“ I have done her only harm; I wish only 
her ruin; I have in reserve for her only 
torments. 

“ She gives herself to me, however; she 
chooses me for her master; she has just pre¬ 
ferred me to her sovereign benefactor, f 

“ Triumph then, O my hate ! She is in 
my power, this soul that God cherished. 

“ Ah! if the fire that devours me could be 
extinguished, it would be so by the torrent of 
tears I will make her shed one day. 

“ But the tears shed during life are often 
sad ones to me. Let us know how to wait 
those that come after death. Let us content 
ourselves now with blinding the victim.” 

Such impudent language did Satan address 

* St. Cyprian, On Good Works and Almsgiving. 

+ Idem. 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


91 


to the accomplices of his fury; but for the 
soul he had only words of felicitation, the 
bitter irony of which she knew not how to 
perceive. 

The book of life was open, and the incor¬ 
ruptible Judge had cancelled a name! . . . 

Not to die of grief, at such a sight, one 
must be immortal, as I was. 

Around me numberless voices had in 
affright exclaimed: “ Let us fly! let us fly ! 
let us go hence ! ” * 

As smoke dissipates a swarm of bees, and 
as infection disperses a flock of pure doves, 
just so the odor of sin had put to flight the 
happy spirits.f 

I alone, despite my repugnance, had re¬ 
mained there watching and praying. 

* Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War. 

t St. Peter Damian, Opusc. 23, Life of the Ven. Widow Gentitis, 
Boll. 



XXVIII. 



tm* 


RANGING over the abyss, the 
sinner was held back only by 
the very frail thread of life. 
He slept in time, at the risk of 
awaking in eternal fire. 

Never had the sadness of the pro¬ 
phets equalled my sadness; their tears 
had never the bitterness of my tears. 

•“ But just now so united, shall we be for¬ 
ever separated ? will he, who ought to be a 
companion, prove only a cowardly deserter ? 
after having been his protector and his guide, 
must I needs be his accuser and his judge? 
instead of making him a partner of my hap- 

92 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


93 


piness, must I ask of him an account of the 
love I bore him ? Shall I recall to him my 
good deeds, only to reproach him with his 
ingratitude ? * 

“ Satan my vanquisher! He whom I cast 
to the earth the day of his revolt, and whom 
since I have so often humbled ! He would 
gain a decisive victory, and would vaunt 
himself of this late triumph ! . . . 

“ The angels I see each day mounting to 
heaven after the judgment of the damned, 
are bathed in tears. They have been obliged 
to abandon to the devils bodies and souls: 
double rejoicing for hell! f 

“ We wished to save them, they said, and 
they refused to be saved. Let us leave them 
in the darkness of their damnation, and 
celebrate the reign of justice there where the 
acts of Divine mercy have been rejected: 

* Origen, Comm, on Numbers. St. Augustine, Contra Juliannm. 
f St. Antoninus, Summa Theol., p. iii. Life of St. Andrew Salus, 
Boll. 


94 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Thou art just, O God! and righteous are Thy 
judgments.* 

“ Will there come a time when I shall be 
obliged to use such language, at once severe 
and full of desolation ? 

“Go then, thou guide that didst excite 
the envy of thy brethren! Show the crown 
woven by thy hands; count the treasures 
heaped up by thy zeal; proclaim incompara¬ 
ble the child thou liadst the honor to lead ; 
plan beautiful projects for the future! 

“ Enchanting pictures, rich perspectives, 
magnificent hopes, all vanished like a dream! ” 

? T was thus my grief vented itself! 


* Jeremiah li, 9, and Comm. Tobias iii. 2. 



XXIX. 



(lilts of Kit 


RIDE and shame, boldness 
and fear, force and weakness, 
all were of use to the devil; 
everything became an obstacle in 
his hands to bar the return to 

a. 

Faculties and talents had abandoned the 
law of the master and obeyed the usurper. 

The pious impressions of the memory had 
become weakened, and gave place to bad 
recollections; the pictures of the imagination 
were no longer animated save by the impure 
spirit; the intellect saw shadows float across 
its beautiful rays, and the heart accustomed to 

95 


96 


MEMOIRS OF A 


noble aspirations began to seek the pleasures 
of earth.* 

Since he had had his wings mutilated, the 
eagle was learning to do without pure air and 
sunlight. Instead taking anew his noble 
flight, he wallowed in the mire. 

A slave, this soul did nothing for herself. 
She thought, meditated, planned. . . .For 
whom was the fruit of so much forethought, 
and fatigue? For a vile tyrant to whom she 
had surrendered herself, f 

When, in the midst of this degradation, 
remorse made itself felt, the demon soon 
reassured the guilty one: “ You are quick in 
taking alarm. Despise these vain scruples. 
Your conscience would become your execu¬ 
tioner. What great evil is it to break a 
law that contradicts one’s dearest yearnings ? 

* St. Augustine, Book of Questions, quest. 23. Procopius of Gaza, 
Comm, on Exodus. 

f St. Aml'rose, Comm. Ps. cxviii. Procopius of Gaza, Comm, on 
Isaiah. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


97 


Can precepts so annoying merit such re¬ 
spect?” 

Availing himself of one only fault, Satan 
wished to shatter, in this soul, the edifice of 
faith, and make her doubt of doctrines and 
of duties. He strove to bring her to that 
depth of evil to which the impious, when 
they contemn everything, have come.* Not¬ 
withstanding what I had under my eyes, 
I could not despair. I saw the mirror, 
formerly so pure, tarnished and soiled, but 
it was not broken. A miracle could give it 
back its brightness, and make it reflect again 
the Divine image. 

* Proverbs, xviii. 3. 



9 


G 




Ijcmuse id 


tawit. 


CALLED the angels of heaven 
to my aid, and conjured them 
^ un ^ e w ith me : * 

“ Angels of holy penitents, lend 
to your brother the voice that 
|/T§£ appeased the anger of God, the 
accent that touched His heart. 

“ Angel of Augustine, thou knewest this 
sadness; thou didst groan under these sor¬ 
rows ; take pity on my suffering, and fly to 
my aid. 

“ Angel who didst deliver Peter from his 
prison, come, break these chains more cruel 


* Origen, Homily on Ezecliiel. 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


99 


still: the apostle was a captive of Jesus 
Christ, the sinner is a slave of Satan. 

“ Angel who didst overthrow Saul the per¬ 
secutor on the way to Damascus, wilt thou 
not be able to cast trembling and submissive 
at the feet of God this heart so rebellious to 
the goad ? 

“ Angel who didst save Lot from an 
accursed place of abode, snatch this soul from 
sin: sin is threatened with a fire more terri¬ 
ble than that of Sodom. 

“ Angel guardians of virtuous friends 
who deplore his conduct, invite them to 
pray for the unhappy young man: is not 
zeal the crown of true love ? 

“ Angels of the family, unite your efforts 
to bring back to God him who grew up in 
the midst of you, lived in your society, 
learned lessons of you, was loaded with your 
gifts, and became your sweetest joy. 

“ Blessed, chosen one, who wert given 
him a a a patron, thou art not made to be 


100 


GUARDIAN ANGEL 


at his side, as I am; but from the bosom of 
glory follow him with a look; thou wert the 
depositary of precious graces: here is the 
moment to bestow them. 

“ Sweet Mary, in what a condition does thy 
child appear to thee! Ah! in spite of his 
evil deeds he belongs to thee. Sinners are 
all thine. Refuge of sinners, pray for him! 

“ Saviour of souls, in the name of Thy 
blood that flowed without fruit, in the name 
of innocence, the memory of which is yet 
fresh, touch this soul and save her.” * 


* Life of St. Andrew Salus, Boll. 





XXXI. 

ITH the irresistible desire I 
had for his conversion, I 
could have moved heaven 
and earth to work it out. Ex¬ 
ternal objects, inanimate beings, 
the most simple phenomena took a 
voice and became eloquent in express¬ 
ing to him my affectionate remonstrances. 

In the midst of a storm, a voice said to 
him: “ This lightning is the eye of God: 
this rolling thunder is the sound of His voice. 
He knows thy conscience; He sees the bottom 
of thy heart. If He were to call thee sud¬ 
denly before His tribunal !”...* 


9 * 


Life of St. Norbert. 


101 




102 


MEMOIRS OF A 


At the sight of a rainbow, a voice said to 
him: “’T is thus the clemency of a father 
warns his son. Dost thou hear this sweet 
call? Dost thou recognize the smile of a 
God ready to be appeased ? ” 

Of an evening when he happened to gaze 
on the azure vault and the stars, a voice said 
to him: “ How beautiful is this heaven! 
how splendid! Shall it one day be thy 
country?”* 

In the morning, when his eye ranged over 
the landscape, a voice said to him : “ Every¬ 
thing sings its canticle to God; everything 
tells again the praises of the Most High; 
only the wicked heart is silent.” 

On seeing a cross, a voice said to him : 
“ This ladder of Divine love, that ought to 
lead to the dwelling-place of the elect, thou 
wouldst change to an insurmountable barrier 
by thy obstinacy ! ” 

At the sound of bells, a voice would say 


* Life of Luther. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


103 


to him : “ Is not this still a sigh for thy 
infidelity? When shall they ring out a 
peal of joy at thy return ? ” 

A barren tree, a field covered with bram¬ 
bles, languishing meadows, dry sands, naked 
rocks, miry roads recalled to him the de¬ 
plorable state of his soul. 

The dew of morning, the limpid brook, the 
fertile rain, the refreshing breeze represented 
to him the varied graces made fruitless by 
his insensibility. 

The enamel of the prairies, the richness of 
the harvest, the treasures of the spring, the 
chorus of birds, the hum of insects spoke to 
him words of just reproach. 

On all sides, on earth and in the heavens, 
mysterious voices assailed his ear with these 
terrible words : “ Ungrateful man ! we are 
the benefits bestowed on thee by Him thou 
hast outraged. How long wilt thou compel 
us to serve a slave of the Evil One, and bend 
us to his caprice ? ” 



XXXII. 



REAT was the gap the young 
man had placed between his 
father and himself. A mes- 
^ senger of rapid wing lessened the 
distance. 

^ While the guilty one was thought 
abandoned, he was receiving through me 
continued favors. Never was I the confi¬ 
dant of more touching goodness, and never 
did I see better the tenderness there is in the 
heart of a father. 

This incomparable feeling grew with the 
obstacles and the ingratitude that repaid it, 
and placed in higher relief its Divine traits. 

104 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


105 


It was in the name of the Heavenly Father 
that I went to lay before the eyes of the 
prodigal the smiling picture of the places 
whence he had fled. I represented to his 
imagination the tree under which, as a child, 
he had played, the garden that had given 
him its flowers, the brook that bathed the 
green lawns, and the roof that had covered 
his peaceful joys. 

’T was the Heavenly Father that said, 
by my voice: " What day was marked 
by severity and rigor ? what moment but 
brought thee new proofs of love? Must 
thou be reminded of the caresses, of the out¬ 
pourings, of the inexhaustible indulgence for 
thy first infidelity ? The abundance in which 
thou didst live, the zeal of thy servants, the 
devotion of thy family — dost thou com¬ 
plain of these ? Host thou prefer these rags, 
this slavery, this contempt, all these spectres 
of misery that rise around ? 

“ Hasten to return. The arms of thy 


106 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


father are always open to his child. Every¬ 
thing calls thee. See the couch on which 
thou didst repose, and the rich ring destined 
for thee, the gay robe, and the festive sandal 
of honor, and the banquet of joy! 

“ That our morning gatherings have their 
freshness,-our meetings at eventide their de¬ 
lights, our reunions their life, thou only art 
wanting to us. Thou only canst dry our 
tears, smooth our brows, give happiness to 
our hearts.” 




XXXIII. 




O much love could not fail to 
touch a heart that had remained 
good. The youth has seen his 
misery; he has blushed at it; hope 
has held out her hand to him ; 
g> he will retrace his steps. 


His passions forthwith cling to him, trying 
to keep him back: 

Thou art going to abandon us ? Impossi¬ 
ble dream! Thou wilt not be able to live 
without us. Thou wilt raise thyself only to 
fall back again. An attempt so mad will be 
a new occasion of greater confusion to thee.* 


*St. Augustine, Confessions, 1. 8, c. xi. 


107 


108 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Showing him then the souls of all ages and 
of every rank that were leading a holy life, I 
said to him: 

“ What! my brave young man, thou wilt 
not be able to do what these women, these 
virgins, these old men, and these children 
have been able to do? Wilt thou persist in 
not knowing thyself? or dost thou count on 
doing without aid from on high ? Know that 
to work prodigies, grace only asks a frank 
and loyal co-operation.” * 

The companions of his faithlessness ad¬ 
dressed him in specious words: 

“ Who would be willing to believe in thy 
sincerity ? Who but will see cowardice in 
this step ? Does thy father promise to pardon 
thee ? Will he cease on that account to throw 
up to thee thy evil deeds ? ” 

I answered : 

“ Know the heart of a father better, and 
insult him not with feigned consideration. 


*St. Augustine, Confessions, 1. 8, c. xi. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


109 


When he pardons, ’t is without restriction. 
Has one single fault been known to have 
been cast up as a reproach to the greatest 
sinners? Human indulgence and mercy can 
be subject to disagreeable reminding; Divine 
pardons, never.” 

Grace overcame the last resistance. The 
child said to himself: 

“ How many servants in my father’s house 
have bread in abundance, and I am perish¬ 
ing from hunger! I will arise, and I will 
go to my father, and I will say to him : 
Father! I have sinned against heaven and 
before thee; I am not worthy to be called thy 
son; receive me as one of thy servants.* 


10 


* St. Luke xv. 



XXXIV. 

ijjytmt, 

LED him to the tribunal 
where clemency sits, where 
charity reigns, where the guilty 
man is the more sure of pardon 
the more severely he accuses him¬ 
self. 

The sinner told with sorrow the faults, of 
which he had asked joy, and which had given 
him sadness. 

As he went on telling them he became con¬ 
soled, and shed tears of gratitude. 

An angel had moved the waters of the 
pool in Avhich he had plunged. I had given 
the soul of the priest a zeal wholly godlike, 

HO 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Ill 


and I had placed on his lips words that 
equalled in sweetness those of pure spirits. 

When the minister of reconciliation 
stretched forth his hand and opened his 
mouth to pronounce sentence, infinite mercy 
was in his heart. 

Like the God who forgave through his 
voice, he forgot faults that were no longer, 
and remembered only the condescension of a 
father and the generous action of a son. 

While this scene was enacting in the 
secrecy of the tribunal, there were signs of 
joy at the sacred font, sighs of love in the 
tabernacle, marks of impatience above the 
holy table, mysterious voices everywhere 
through the sanctuary. 

The angels were there to bid the sinner 
rejoice, to give him courage in this step, to 
aid him in his penance.* 


* St. Thomas of Yillanova, On the Angels. 



XXXV. 

flit 

HE Heavenly Father could not 
contain his joy. He called 
together his friends, told them 
his happiness, bade them join him 
in giving a beautiful reception to 
his son. The angels have seen 
Him go forward to meet his child, 
throw himself upon his neck, bathe him with 
his tears. They have heard the cry of His 
heart: 

“ Quick ! fetch his robe of old, and clothe 
him with it; put the ring on his finger, and 
sandals on his feet. Bring hither the fatted 
calf, kill it, let us feast and rejoice, for this 

112 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


113 


my son was lost, and he is found, he was 
dead, and he has come to life.” * 

The angels have obeyed; they have given 
back to the young man his dignity and rank. 
They have spread the table, they have lit 
the lamps, they have twined the garlands. 
The ministers of the sanctuary are to adorn 
the altar, prepare the victim, sacrifice the 
Divine Lamb, who wills to give himself as 
nourishment. 

The wine of consolation flows in full 
stream; delicious viands are brought from 
halls above. *T is no longer only a few 
crumbs fallen from the tables at which 
princes sit: T is the universality of spiritual 
goods. 

The Lord hath said to his eldest born: 

“ Complain not, O glorious spirits! if I 
have not happened to do thus for every one 
of you. You are always with me, and all 
I have is yours.” f 

* St. Luke xv. 


10* 


II 


t Ibid. 


114 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


4 


“ Allow a father to take unbounded pre¬ 
caution, when he is going to touch the bleed¬ 
ing wounds of his child. 

“ You, that never felt the bitterness of 
absence, nor the privations of being de¬ 
spoiled, nor the weight of slavery, nor the 
hardship of disgrace, remain in the posses¬ 
sion of your joy, and by youx union become 
the interpreters between two sundered hearts 
that have again found each other.” 

At this invitation of the father of the 
family the heavenly musicians take their 
places above the festive table, and prepare 
to sing the delights of this day of rejoicing.* 
At the conversion of one sinner they show 
more joy than at the perseverance of ninety- 
nine just. The breath of fatherly tenderness 
animates the lyres, and lives in their notes.f 
The angels tell successively of the power 
of tears, and of the triumph of love. 

* St, Luke xv. 25. f Ibid. 7. 



XXXVI. 

lift ‘jaatjt of 

oosrr) 

AIL, happy tears! hail, cause 
IfiSo of our ioy! 

pM 

“ You are stronger than Satan 
from whom you tore his victim, 
more powerful than hell, the chains 
of which you shattered. 

“ You raise yourself above every creature, 
and you dictate laws to the Almighty. 

“ You alone have changed justice into 
mercy, and made of an angry judge a father 
full of love. 

“ You have taken the place of words and 
of eloquence, of supplication and of prayer. 

115 



116 


MEMOIRS OF A 



“In the eyes of a sinner you are more 
beautiful than the reflection of heaven in the 
eyes of the just.* 

“ In you sparkle the blood of redemption, 
the treasures of grace, the wonders of eter¬ 
nity. 

“ You open the heart to hope, and place 
on the predestined brow the sign of salva¬ 
tion.*}* 

“ You wash out from the guilty soul a 
stain that not all the united waters of rivers 
and of seas would have been able to take 
away. 

“ You are the dew of spring that tells of 
the sighs of the dove in the fields of Divine 
love.f 

“You are the wine that rejoices angels, 

* St. J. Clirysost., Comment. Ep. ad Coloss. 

f St. Augustine, Homil. 27. 

X Hugo a St. Caro, Comment, in Cant. Canticor. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


117 


and the pure water the God of the Cross 
thirsts after.* 

“ Shed in exile, you cause in the heavenly 
country universal joy. 

“The eternal unhappiness of the fallen 
angel will be never to have shed one such 
tear.f 

“ Hail, happy tears! hail, cause of our joy! ” 

* St. Bernard, Comment, on the Canticle of Canticles. St. Chrys¬ 
ostom, Sermon 93. 
f St. "Vincent Ferrer., Sermons. 




XXXVII. 


Clje ^tiumpb nf ^ 


w. 


ECK thee with fresh verdure, 
O withered meadow; bear 
thy smiling harvests, ravaged 
field! Put forth thy flower’s 
stem, once rudely spoiled; tree 
left desolate and barren, bend thy 
branches under the weight of fruit. 

“ Admirable everywhere, in no place has 
Divine condescension revealed itself by more 
touching effects. It has not let live one of 
the faults pardoned, and it has, through 
penance, made lost merits live again. 



“ The sinner feels anew the crown of the 

118 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


119 


elect encircle his brow. He can contemplate 
it at even when he rests, and salute it in the 
morn when he wakes. He sees it floating in 
his dream at night, and finds it while he 
meditates by day. 

“O prince! fallen yesterday, to-day raised 
up, hold with both hands thy crown of roy¬ 
alty, repel the hand that would tarnish it, or 
tear away its emblems. 

“ The heavenly pastor has countless flocks 
in the verdant pasture-grounds of grace and 
of glory. Thousands of sheep graze in the 
valleys of the earth. Still more leap and 
play on the lofty hills of heaven, clothed in 
their fleeces of pure white. All together 
could not have consoled him for the loss of 
only one. In that one he seemed to have 
lost all. What joyous heart-beats, when he 
brought her back to the fold, and she rested 
with her sisters, under the guardian care of 
the well-loved crook of her shepherd. 

“ Come out of your dens, monsters of the 


120 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


desert! run in pursuit of the lamb. You 
shall never be able to quench your thirst 
in its blood. The tender care of the pastor 
has been quicker and more active than the 
fury of the wolves.* 

“ At the word of Divine friendship, the 
seal of the sepulchre has flown to pieces, the 
stone has been rolled back, the bonds have 
been sundered; he who had been dead four 
days, has arisen full of life. What a hymn 
these renewed senses sing! Resurrection ! 
Word ineffable, those will never understand 
thy sweet mysteries who have not gone down 
to the tomb. Will they comprehend better 
the transports of the Divine friend, who 
receives in his arms him whose loss he had 
bewailed ? 

“ O grave! where is thy victory ? O 
death ! where is thy sting ? Jesus has wept 
over Lazarus. Oh, how much He loved 
him.” f 

* St. Luke xv. 

f Ep. St. Paul ad Cor. I. xv. 55. St. John xi. G6. 



XXXVIII. 

% fomttl fwm 

HILE the angels were cele¬ 
brating the return of the 
sinner, a lament came up to 
p| heaven. 

“ No,” said a voice, “ I can 
no longer bear pains so atrocious. 
"W hatever may be the delights of recompense, 
they cannot be in proportion to such a pun¬ 
ishment. Hear my prayer, O compassionate 
God! Make haste to comfort Thy feeble 
creature.” 

This lament passed like a sigh through the 
songs of joy, and went straight to the heart 
of God. Our melodies did not keep the 
11 121 



122 


GUARDIAN ANGEL 


Most High from hearing it, and giving 
answer. 

As we continued our strains, He opened 
slightly the door that bars from men the 
accents of the blessed. 

One sound only, the least penetrating of 
our melodies, escaped from our strains, and 
went to touch lightly this suffering heart. 

“ Enough! enough ! or I die! ” cried the 
servant of God. His soul had thrilled, like 
those of the elect, and had received a foretaste 
of infinite happiness. The pleasure had been 
so lively, that had the sound lasted one in¬ 
stant more, she would have burst the bonds 
that held her and have flown to us.* 


* Life of St. Francis of Assisium. 




XXXIX. 


Spiteful K#jit of tfje Isttfpeo, 

m&m 

ME song of the angels excited 
Wg ^e spiteful rage of Satan. 
x ( * The envy that devours his 
inmost being, since the exaltation 
of man, showed itself more terri¬ 
ble, and made him give forth cries 
of fury.* 

If he suffers at the sight of a soul he rapa¬ 
ciously covets and which he cannot seize, how 
much sharper is his pain where he loses the 
prey he had in his hands.f 

He could not withhold the transports of 



* St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, lib. xii. c. 9. 
f Life of St. Aldegunda, Boll. 


123 


124 


MEMOIRS OF A 


his rage at the blow that had just struck 
him. 

“ Why chase me from the abode where I 
dwelt in peace? Why deprive me of the 
pleasure I had in doing harm ? Could I not 
hope to enjoy it yet awhile? To keep me from 
ruining man is to make my hell a hundred¬ 
fold worse.* 

“ Besides, in what does this soul deserve to 
be preferred to me? , What title can she have 
to be, by preference, aided by mercy, when I 
am given over to the rigors of justice ? Is 
she more worthy of pardon than I am? 
Had she sinned less often or less mortally 
than I ? Let them count the faults of 
Lucifer, and let them weigh him in the bal¬ 
ance. Let them put side by side the iniqui¬ 
ties of man and that slight movement of 
pride! . . . Man may become guilty a thou¬ 
sand and a thousand times; as often will he 
obtain pardon; after one only fault, Lucifer 


* Theophylactus, Comm, on St. Matthew. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


125 


shall be punished without redress. Where 
in this is there justice ? ” * 

At these words the blessed spirits and 
glorified souls unite in one voice, and, with a 
sound like to thunder, exclaim: 

“ When did Satan repent him ? When did 
he penance ? ” 

Confounded at this reproach, Satan had 
vanished.*)" 

Life of St. Eudoxia, Boll. t Idem. 



11 * 


XL. 




%\t f(itii|m fault. 



NEVER loved my brother 
more tenderly than since his 
glorious resuscitation, after his 
fall. He was more completely 
mine — for he owed his life to me 
once more. I had concurred in his 
baptism and in his repentance, in his 
birth and in his resurrection.* 

His soul had become adorned with per¬ 
fections she had never had in her best days 
of innocence: her love had in it something 
more generous, more lively, stronger.f 

Jealous in repairing lost time, she dreamed 


* Tertullian, Tr. de Poenit., c. viii. 
f St. Ambrose, On the Tears of St. Peter, Serm. 47. 

126 





GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


127 


only of the means of drawing from past evil 
future good. 

In the face of danger I suggested to her a 
thousand reflections on her imprudence, and 
laid before her eyes the torments she had 
undergone in consequence of it. 

One look was enough to bring her to her¬ 
self, to make her shed tears, to secure her 
fidelity.* 

Having escaped, stripped of her plumage 
and covered with blood from the claws of the 
vulture, the dove would take refuge in the 
bosom of her mother. At these times, as I 
pressed her under my wings to give her new 
warmth, I felt her beautiful youth come back 
again. 

She took such precautions against surprise 
and conceived so great horror of vice, and 
acquired such a taste for virtue, that I could 
at length exclaim : “ Happy fault! ” 

* St. Augustine, Tr. de Corrept. et Gratia, c. i. St. J. Chrysos., s. 
107. J. Lopes, Abstract of Doctrine of II. Fathers. 





XLI. 


lit CommUot*, 

O prevent new wanderings, I 
inspired the young man with 
the thought of consulting me 
in everything hereafter, bringing 
to mind my presence, in all his 
actions.* 

If he had been invited to a worldly as¬ 
sembly : “ I could not go without thee, O 
my heavenly friend! ” he said, “ and I 
should not dare ask thee to take me thither.” 

If a bad book fell into his hands : “ Could 
I direct thy look, so pure, on pages dictated 
by Satan?” 

* St. Andrew of Caesarea, Comm, on Apocalypse. 

128 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


129 


If he were moved to revenge: “ Would 
not an invisible arm arrest and hold back the 
blow I meditate! ” * 

If he felt a humbling temptation : “ Should 
I dare before a prince of heaven, what I 
should not venture to do before the lowest of 
my fellow-men ? ” 

If he heard wicked discourses : “ Could I 
listen to words that will wound my best 
friend to the heart ? ” 

If he were in danger of scandalizing his 
neighbor: “ This would be to join the ser¬ 
vice of the demons, and fight against the 
ministry of the angels! ” 

If he were affrighted at the difficulty of 
duty : “ Help me, thou who art my support; 
I will not have thee blush for my coward¬ 
ice^ f 

He did nothing without my approbation. 

* J. Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 

fSt. Lawrence Justinian, Tr. de Disciplina Monastica, 5. St. 
Sophronius, On the Angels. 

1 


130 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Everything was submitted to me. I reigned 
over his spirit and directed his actions. He 
shared my wisdom, and was led by my 
light. 



XLII. 


^utuw, 



I ME went on. What per¬ 
spective was going to open 
before the youth ? What was 
to be my ministry ? 

Should I have to stand one day 
at the side of a priest at the altar, or 
of a religious in the depth of the 
cloister, or of a soldier on the field of battle? 

Nothing had revealed to me the secret of 
God. I saw in no present cause the events 
of the future; and He who knows all things, 
had not spoken.* 

* Theodoretus, Comm, on the 24th Ps. Bail., Theol. Affect, dee 
Anges. 


131 


132 


MEMOIRS OF A 


I knew not into what path the young man 
obeying the call of heaven would lead me; 
I imagined myself beforehand in a variety 
of situations. 

The priesthood was the object of my admi¬ 
ration and of my complacency. What a 
crown is reserved for the faithful dispenser of 
Divine graces, to the noble associate of the 
Redeemer, to the Saviour of his brethren ! 

But the burden of the priesthood is fearful 
even to angels. He is laden with the weight 
of all the souls he has a mission to save. It 
is much for an angel to have to guide one 
soul; what will it be for one soul to have to 
lead thousands of others ? * 

In passing before the angel of a priest, I 
bade him joy, I treated him with honor — I 
could not envy him. 

Whatever might be the vocation of the 
young man, I understood that it was his duty 
to follpw it, and that he could not, without 


* St. Thojnas pf Villanova, On the Angels. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 133 


the greatest danger, be faithless to it. He 
had besought me to obtain for him a knowl¬ 
edge of it. I myself awaited only the 
revelation of the Most High. 

12 




XLIII. 

* iWtimt, 

OVED as if I were about to 
learn the secret of my own 
destiny, I flew up to heaven, 
and penetrated into the sanctuary. 
The book in which are con¬ 
tained the vocations of men was sur¬ 
rounded by angels who consulted it. Under 
their eyes was placed, at the moment marked, 
the page that interested them. They received 
at the same time the knowledge of the voca¬ 
tion and of the graces destined to make it 
succeed.* 

I saw angels who were sad and afflicted; 

* J. Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 



184 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


135 


they sought new aid for souls faithless to the 
first 'graces. One of them said to me, with 
sorrow: 

“ Salvation will still be possible to the soul 
intrusted to me ; but alas! it will be difficult 
for her! She will no longer have the choice 
graces that awaited her in the way in which 
she was first called.” 

The book was at length opened for me. 
On the desired page I read: “ A holy life in 
the world ; Christian marriage.” 

All the difficulties of this state of life grew 
before my eyes. I was overwhelmed. But 
the Lord, with a mildness that inspired con¬ 
fidence, said to me: “ Open thy hands.” 

My hands opened, and the Lord placed in 
them such abundant graces that my fears 
vanished at once. 

Among these graces some were to make the 
vocation known and accepted, the others to 
render its duties easy. 


136 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Apart from men and in solitude and in 
presence of his eternity, the young man learned 
of me the secret he had thus far sought with 
his prayers. 




XLIV. 


t 

fe&CV 

FTER having revealed to him 
his vocation to the married 
state, I made him know the 
spouse adorned with modesty, 
whom Heaven had destined for 
m.* 

She had been prepared for him 
long before. The angel of holy unions had 
established those relations in the name of 
God, which incline one virtuous soul toward 
another. 

The angel of the young girl and I had 
seconded him. We had cherished between 



* J. Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 


12 * 


137 


138 


MEMOIRS OF A 


these two hearts the perfect harmony, that we 
contemplate without seeing the consoling 
results. We perceived the design of God 
only after we had been the executors of it.* 

By the holiness of his conduct and the 
purity of his soul the young man had merited 
from the young girl the beautiful qualities 
and the virtues with which he saw her em¬ 
bellished. And the young girl found a 
recompense for her innocence in the treasure 
of living faith and inexhaustible generosity 
the heart of the youth brought her. 

What did the demon not do to hinder the 
accomplishment of the will of God? He 
did his utmost to bring about a change, by 
prompting other alliances in which grace and 
virtue would have had no part. 

At one time it was the goods of fortune he 
presented brilliantly, and placed in view a 
seductive future. Under this deceitful veil, 
I showed the youth the yawning abyss: “ See 

• * Tobias xii. 3. Humbert de Romanis. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 139 

that bad disposition, that heart without noble 
qualities, those worldly tastes.” * 

At another time it was the natural qualities 
he exalted. Exterior gifts were to triumph 
over all, and procure unalterable happiness. 
I said to the young man : “ Where is piety, 
fear of the Lord, faithfulness to duty ? Do 
you want a heart that will come to chill your 
charity by its indifference, rather than one 
that will sustain your virtue ? ” 

Again, it was relationship and friendship 
that interfered. They made much of an al¬ 
liance, that flattered their self-love and their 
ambition, but which would have brought 
destruction to the dispositions of the soul. 
One ray of light was enough for me to 
strengthen the youth, and save him from 
influences but little Christian. 

Nothing was of any avail against the choice 
of Providence. If human motives had been 
consulted, it was in a just degree. Consider- 


* St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, lib. 4. 


140 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


ations of a higher order were supreme. 
Neither the egotistical calculation of material 
goods, nor the blind slavery of passion, nor 
the tyrannous pressure of the will of others, 
nor any means used by the devil, hindered 
the manifestation and the accomplishment of 
the Divine decrees. 




XLV. 





O the joy caused by a design 
formed under such favorable 
auspices succeeded all at once 
the greatest apprehension. 

A marriage had been celebrated; 
was that of the scandalizing friend 
who had failed to lead astray the 
young man in the days of his childhood. 
The youth was invited to it, and he came. 

The future spouses were thought happy: 
they were not. A cloud of sadness darkened 
their soul; their hearts were in sin. They 
had arranged everything beforehand; all was 
prepared, all . . . except the one thing essen- 

141 


142 


MEMOIRS OF A 


tial. They made a plaything of the sacra¬ 
ment of mercy, and they came to insult God, 
before His face. The holy act that was to 
have so powerful an influence on their des¬ 
tinies for time and for eternity was about to 
be changed into a crime.* 

At the moment the priest pronounced the 
words of the union, the blessing descended ; 
but not finding whereon to rest in these 
tainted hearts, it went back again to heaven. 

“ They would not of my benediction,” 
said the Most High; “ it shall be withdrawn 
from them; they shall have my curse.” f 
The curse descended in its turn; it fell 
upon the guilty couple, and like an avenging 
fluid passed from one to the other when they 
joined hands, and penetrated to the very 
marrow of their bones.J 

They were united ; but in their very union 
they had received the principle of the most 
cruel divisions. Their bonds were one day 

* Tobias vi. 16, 17. f Ps-108. $ Ibid. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


143 


to be stripped of the vain flowers that dazzled 
them; they will be found made up only of 
sharp thorns. 

The wedding crowned in a manner worthy 
of it the sacrilege that had just been com¬ 
mitted. In the songs and discourses, in the 
attitudes and movements there was nothing 
but license. The demons applauded, the 
angels veiled their faces. Oh, how sad are the 
marriages from which the Lord is excluded! * 
During the long hours of that day I did 
nothing but repeat: “ Avert, O Lord! so 
great a calamity from him who is dear to me, 
and from her whom you destine for him! ” 

* St. Jerome, Letter to Heloidius. St. John Chrysostom, Comm, 
on St. Matt. 




XLVI. 





BLESS the Lord for it still! 
Instead of seeing my fears 
realized, I felt them yielding 
little by little. 

® The arts of the Evil One failed. 
Not having been able to break an 
alliance agreeable to God, he suc¬ 
ceeded no better in depriving it of its sublime 
character. Reserving for the last day his 
most subtle snares, he came to spread them 
at the entrance of the new way. But he 
could not gain what but too often he obtains. 

The young man prepared for his marriage 
by prayer, and not by the follies of sin.* 


* Tobias vi. 22. 


144 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 145 


Purity of intention had guided him, and 
he had not lowered one of the greatest acts 
of his life to the level of temporal interests. 

The immediate preparation was such as I 
desired. The heart found in penance and 
holy works the beauty it had had on the day 
of first communion. With more light, it had 
not less innocence. 

We were at the decisive hour, and we had 
no longer any fear. Raphael had chained 
Satan and kept him far from us. The festi¬ 
val was going to be chaste and full of pleasure. 
No untoward apparition was to trouble our 
joy.* 

Tobias viii. 3. 



13 


K 



XLVII. 





HEY came to the temple pure, 
and full of fervor. Their 
angels knelt at their sides. 
We rejoiced to see allied the tra¬ 
ditional virtues of two excellent 
families, that came to bring together 
their treasures of good examples. 

At the solemn moment the blessing came 
from the bosom of God. Like a river of 
graces, it spread itself over the hearts of the 
affianced pair, and made the virtues proper to 
their new state spring up in them.* 

Love and fidelity, goodness and sweetness, 
happy days, and long life: it was the reunion 

* Eccleasticus xxxix. 

146 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 147 

of all the good that makes up the only hap¬ 
piness of life, and prepares the perfect bliss 
of heaven.* 

It put the two souls so well in harmony, 
that they seemed to be only one. It bound 
them in ties so much the sweeter, because 
they were so strong. Their indissolubility 
will be the source of charms that will never 
vanish. 

We presented to our brothers, the angels, 
the act of union. In ratifying it, they 
showed us the part they took in our joy, and 
the interest they bore the spouses. Each one 
was eager to contribute something to their 
happiness, and offered some special wish for 
them.f 

The Divine Guest was present at the mod¬ 
est and edifying feast that followed. He had 
been invited to this wedding by prayer and 
holiness, and brought to it that good-will we 
saw in him at the marriage of Cana. 


* Humbert de Romanis. 


f Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, lib. 2. 


148 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

The relatives and friends had addressed to 
Him their prayers in the temple. He loved 
to see them now seated together at the same 
table, and He strengthened the cordial rela¬ 
tions established between the two families.* 

Beginning with the next day to show 
Him their gratitude, the spouses made Him 
two visits that were unspeakably dear to 
Him. They visited Him in His poor on 
earth by their alms, and in His poor in pur¬ 
gatory through the Holy Sacrifice, celebrated 
according to their intention. 


* Humbert de Romanis. 



XLVIII. 

t 


A RELY does earth offer to 
heaven a spectacle more beau¬ 
tiful than that of an innocent 
and pious family. 

This one was an Eden, which 
we had a mission to defend against 
the spirit of ill, and our zeal was 
the flaming sword that guarded the entrance. 

The spouses were mutually inclined to 
good. They were seen together at the church, 
at the tribunal of penance, at the Eucharistic 
table. In joy and in grief, during work or 
rest, they were animated by the same spirit. 



13 * 


149 


150 


MEMOIRS OF A 


In them were strength and grace, and in 
them virtue and piety joined hands.* 

The paradise they dwelt in was going to 
produce magnificent flowers of innocence, f 
At the sight of a new infant, I saw begin 
again the scenes of which I had once been a 
witness, and in which I had taken so delight¬ 
ful a part. The young soul was presented to 
us by her angel. He was happy to unite 
himself to us and enter into the family. The 
family numerous, numerous also are the 
angels. 

We were in nowise strangers at the fire¬ 
side. We were seen there by faith. They 
seemed to recognize us, and held intercourse 
with us. We were often blessed, consulted, 
thanked.J 

The familiarity of our relations was full 
of advantage to our friends, and had no ill 
consequence for us. We were able to give 

* Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, lib. 2. 

t St. Clement Alex., Pedagogue, lib. 2. 

X St. Lawrence Justinian, Discourse on St. Michael. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


151 


them our virtues without any danger of in¬ 
curring their faults. How happy such friend¬ 
ship ! * 

Their companionship soon had the char¬ 
acter that distinguishes that of the angels. 
Everything in it was firmly based on affec¬ 
tion, f 

The brother, through charity, would throw 
over the faults of his brothers a veil of gold, 
through which only the good could be seen. 

The father and mother made their happi¬ 
ness consist in their mutual devotion, and 
their love was like ours: what they loved, 
above everything, in their children, was their 
soul. 

*St. Bernard, Comm, on Ps. 90. 
f Peter of Blois, Discourse on St. Michael. 





XLIX. 



LADDER formed of lumin¬ 
ous rays was placed between 
heaven and the roof that cov¬ 
ered this family. It was used day 
and night, by spirits from above, 
who came to visit us. The house 
of our friends offered them a sojourn 
of predilection. They looked on it as an 
earthly resting-place, to which they came to 
share our joys and increase them.* 

Nothing was left undone to attract such 
amiable guests. Whatever could have dis¬ 
pleased their eyes was with the greatest care 
kept far away. 

* Life of St. Antoninus, Boll. 


152 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


153 


Disobedience, pride, discord, bad language, 
lawless acts, would have made them take 
flight.* 

Purity of manners, chastity of speech, sub¬ 
mission, humility, mutual good understand¬ 
ing made them forget heaven. 

To repress abuse, or recall duty, one word 
from the father was enough: 

“ Do you wish, my child, to make the good 
angels leave the house, and deprive us of 
their society? Know that with the good an¬ 
gels come all good things, and that without 
them we should be exposed to all kinds of 
evil.f 

u If heaven come down to earth, in this 
spot, and seems to us to be one with this 
blessed house, it is because innocence and 
virtue have attracted it to us.” 

* St. Nilus, Letter to Theodore. St. Bernard. Sermon on St. Michael, 
f St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. St. Bernard, Sermon on 
St. Michael. Louis of Blois, Retreat of the Faithful Soul. 




L. 




HEN, morning and evening, 
the members of the family, on 
their knees, were as one soul 
and one heart, to pray to God! we 
also were prostrate in adoration.* 
We joined our voices to that beau¬ 
tiful mingling of voices grave and 
of voices childlike. No one failed to be part 
of this pious circle. Even the angel of him 
who slept in his crib united with us, and 
prayed for his little brother.f 

The demons sought to trouble the holy 

* St. Nilus, On Prayer. Louis of Blois, Appendix to the Ascetic 
Life. 

f St. Bernard, Meditations, ch. vi. 

154 






GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


155 


exercise. They came and placed themselves 
on the head, on the mouth, and on the eyes 
of our friends. *T was then came fatigue, or 
sleep, or tedium, or foolish fancies, to stop the 
acts of the heart. We drove away the tempt¬ 
ers, and fervor returned.* 

We gathered the prayers with great oare. 
For us they were like flowers that sprang up 
in the soul, and opened without through the 
word. We formed with them a basket of 
flowers. 

Those from which distraction had torn no 
leaf, nor any profane feeling had soiled, those 
that were fresh and pure, intact and whole, 
had the place of honor. 

To heighten the brilliancy of these flowers, 
culled in the valley of exile, we took still 
richer ones from the garden of our country. 
The flowers of heaven came to wed those of 
earth, and imparted to them their own fra¬ 
grance and beauty.f 

* St. Thomas of VilJanova, On the Angels. Life of St. Macarius 
of Egypt, Boll. f St. Climacus, Ladder of Heaven. 


156 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Possessed of all the treasures of glory, we 
had nothing to ask for ourselves. But with 
what joy did we ask for those who were dear 
to us! We felt a like want of praising in 
our own name, and of praying in the name 
of our brothers. Their weakness, their sor¬ 
rows, their perils, became our portion. By 
a touching exchange, love gave us their mis¬ 
ery, and bestowed on them our privileges. 

Embellished by our fervor, and sustained 
by our hands, the flower-basket was accepted 
as coming from our friends, and obtained for 
them the favors they needed.* 

When thrice a day and oftener they turned 
to Mary and hailed her in the words of Ga¬ 
briel, T was for us to gather the pious Aves 
and offer them. 

Mary bent to receive them with a look of 
tender love. She had for this embassy of 
earth the same smile she had for that of hea- 

* St. Thomas Villanova, On the Angels. Lives of SS. Dorothy 
Arrigius, and Annowaredh, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


157 


yen. She received the lowly child as she did 
the glorious archangel. The emotion she felt 
was the same she experienced the day it was 
announced to her that she was to become the 
mother of her God. 



14 



LI. 

(T In' 

HEY showed their trust in us 
by their earnestness in asking 
aid of us.* 

Before any important enterprise, 
the point of beginning any dif- 
work, on the eve of any dan¬ 
gerous journey, each one would come and 
prostrate himself under the hand of his angel, 
and would say : “ I will not commence, un¬ 
less you have first blessed me.” f 

They begged of us to bless them in the 
morning, that the day might be a good one 

* St. Bernard, Sermon on St. Michael. 

Marohant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 



158 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


159 


for them ; and at night, that their sleep 
might be without danger. 

They did not address themselves to their 
angels only ; they had recourse to those of 
their benefactors, of their friends, of their 
enemies, to those especially of sinners, whom 
they sought to turn aside from evil, and bring 
back to good.* 

At the voice of the father and in his name, 
I would often bless the family, or the mem¬ 
bers of it that he pointed out.f 

They did not have more joy in receiving, 
than we had in giving. How could we repel 
their prayer, and deceive their trust in us, 
when they spoke to us with so much love ? J 

Our blessing was a wish of the heart. It 
embraced prayers we made for the success of 
their projects, and for the accomplishment of 
their desires. 

We wished them spiritual prosperity: 

* Practice of St. V. de Paul, of Father Balthazar Alvarez, of M. Olier. 

f Genesis lviii. 16. J. Marchant, Jardin des Pasteurs. 

JSt. Lawrence Justinian, Discourse on St. Michael. 


160 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

“ May vice be extirpated ; may virtue flour¬ 
ish; may graces flow in abundance; may 
there dwell in your souls richness, beauty, 
vigor.” * 

We wished them material prosperity, as far 
as it was beneficial to their souls: “ May their 
bodies be strong and healthy; may the fields 
be covered with harvests; may wisdom guide 
their plans; may everything go well with 
them,” f 

In wishing our friends this prosperity, we 
asked it of God. God did not fail to bestow 
His good-will on those He saw enjoyed ours. 
Our prayers drew down His favors. 


* Humbert de Romanis. 

f St. R6mi, Comm, on the Epistle to the Ephesians. 



LII. 




W O sloth : each one did the task 
allotted him by obedience, and 
continual occupation protected 
virtue. The family were a col¬ 
lection of faithful workmen labor¬ 
ing for God, under the direction and 
with the concourse of angels.* 

From the time God created the earth, men 
and angels were charged to make it bear its 
fruit. The pure spirits are the invisible cul¬ 
tivators of it in union with men.f 

In giving motion to the heavenly bodies, 
in presiding over the play of the elements, in 


* St. Augustine, Soliloquies, 26. 
f Origen, Tract against Celsus. 

14 * L 


161 


) 


162 MEMOIRS OF A 

regulating the seasons, in spreading over the 
earth the rain and the dew, in dispensing 
light and heat, we made the seeds germinate, 
the plants grow, the flowers bloom, the fruits 
ripen.* 

It has happened sometimes that angels have 
taken the form of men, and have come to cul¬ 
tivate, at his side or in his place, the fields, 
to tend his flock, to build his dwelling, to 
steer his vessel, f 

By these exceptions in favor of some saints, 
God showed that no labor was unworthy of 
the noblest creatures. 

Working in concert with the angels, and 
seeing himself in the midst of them, the fa¬ 
ther of the family loved his condition. Every 
occupation became ennobled in his eyes, and 
agreeable to him. He was never seen dis¬ 
couraged or overcome. 

*Cosmas Indie. Christian Topography, lib. 2. Bail., Tlifiologie Aff. 
des Anges. 

t Lives of SS. Isidor, Felix of Valois ; of St. Raymond Nonnatus, 
Cartag., Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


163 


On a day of great labor the tempter said 
to him, ironically: “ Wouldst thou be will¬ 
ing to sell me a drop of thy sweat ? ” 

“ Thou art too late,” replied the just man ; 
“ it is not in my power to dispose of a single 
drop of it. I have put it out elsewhere, at 
so high a price, that with all the treasures of 
the world thou couldst not have wherewith 
to purchase the least drop.” * 

These drops of sweat had long ago been 
sold. I had been the promoter and the agent 
of the contract. I held in my hand a vase 
of gold which I received from God to collect 
them during work.f 

At the end of each day I had but to breathe 
lightly on them, they were changed to pearls 
and jewels, and I hastened to attach them to 
the crown that awaits the faithful servant in 
heaven, 

* Life of St. Francis of Assisium. 
f St. Bernard, Sermon on St. Michael. 


LIII. 




never saw his sleep broken by the 


care did not restrict itself 
to watching over the labor of 


d during the repose of night.* 


the day; it was redoubled 


If the father of the family 


lurid glare of fire, if his children 
were always in the morning found full of 
health and innocence, they owed thanks for 
it to their guardian angels.f 

When darkness covered the earth, when 
our friends slept, with them slept too their 
prudence and their strength. The senses, 

* St. Bernard, Meditations, 6. 
t James Alvarez, Tr. on the Religious Life, b. 1. 


164 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


165 


weighed down by the duties of the day, 
ceased to watch. The citadel was open; 
Satan was ready to rush to it. 

That friend of night, who multiplies him¬ 
self in its shades that he may inspire unholy 
designs, sharpen the dagger of the assassin, 
light the torch of the incendiary, came to 
place himself above the couch where virtue 
reposed. Even in sleep he tormented it, and 
made it feel his deadly influence.* 

Our light alone restricted the power of the 
accursed one. We repelled the dangerous 
phantoms evoked in the midst of dreams, 
and overcame their effects by heavenly 
images. 

How many evils did we ward off from 
those roofs that had become our own ! 

Notwithstanding his love and our vigil¬ 
ance, God could have permitted some acci¬ 
dent; but without our watchfulness and His 
love, our brothers would not for an instant 


* St. Augustine, Serm. 4. 


166 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


have been able to save themselves from the 
devil.* 

Under our wings the repose of night was 
taken without fear. It renewed and sancti¬ 
fied them just as did the labor of the day. 
The offering they had made of it to God 
gave the soul an impulse, that bore it onward 
in the way of merit, even when the body was 
inactive and gave itself up to the sleep it 
needed.*)* 


* St. Bernard, Comm, on 90th Ps. 
t James Alvarez, Tr. on Relig. Life, 2. 




LIV. 



mt ^ciitt to 


%YER the dwelling of innocence 
was heard the sound of rejoi- 
® cing, and in the air angelic 
voices spoke: “ Behold, behold, it 
is the day of the Lord! ” ’T was 
Sunday. 

The arms ceased their movement, all work 
was suspended. From midnight to midnight, 
they were to have rest. 

The angels that lead the stars have no need 
of ceasing from outward action that they 
may praise God. More distracted, our friends 
could not join their material occupations with 
the praises of God. It was not asking too 

167 


168 


MEMOIRS OF A 


much of all their attention that it should 
be directed to the spectacle that was offered 
to their faith, and be called on to discharge 
the duties that were prescribed for them. 

On the Lord’s day the air clothed itself, in 
their sight, with a more heavenly tint, and 
nature spoke to them a language more touch¬ 
ing. In this verdure and in these flowers, in 
this light and in these clouds everything had 
life. Each object breathed a pure incense, 
and from all sides came mysterious invita¬ 
tions : “ Raise your hearts to God !” 

Our inspirations disclosed to them, even 
in the least creature, a way of raising their 
thoughts to the Author of all. 

On each flowret of the valley there rested 
a souvenir of piety. ’T was the Passion¬ 
flower, the Dream of Heaven, the Crown of 
the Angels, the Virgin’s Eyes, the Smile of 
the Infant Mary, the Ave, the Blood of 
Jesus.* 


Popular names of flowers. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


169 


The voice of the little bird had its lan¬ 
guage in which to speak to them of God. 
The sparrow, in mounting heavenward, and 
in singing, under the azure vault, its hymn 
of thanks, called thither their look and 
their thoughts. 

On the hill-side, in the shade of a grove, 
on the border of a stream, on the top of . a 
mountain, they breathed a perfumed air that 
came from the hills of heaven. 

The material world was for them a Divine 
manuscript, of which they knew the origin 
and the authenticity. We taught them to 
seize the spiritual sense of it, hidden under 
each phenomenon. We helped them read in 
the firmament and in the stars, as on earth 
and in the flowers, the brilliant characters 
traced by the hand of the Almighty. 

But had their eyes been opened to the 
light of glory, they would have seen the 
country more richly enamelled, and the air 
traversed by more harmonious legions. The 
15 


170 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


angels would have appeared to them not only 
going from one pole to another, but from star 
to star, from sun to sun, and filling space 
with their splendors and with their canticles.* 

* St. Ambrose, Comm, on St. Luke. Life of St. Colombanus, Boll. 




LV. 


^ %k 



1ST the Lord’s day the law of 
repose set aside profane works, 
and the law of worship called 
for holy ones. They came to 
group themselves around the work 
by excellence, the Holy Sacrifice. 

At the moment the Saviour was 
going to offer himself as a holocaust, our 
friends, in obedience to a precept dear to the 
heart, hastened to wend their way to the 
church, the meeting-place of heaven and 
earth. 

On entering, we bent before the priest, who 
was preparing to mount the altar, and then 
before the guardian spirits of the holy place. 

171 


172 


MEMOIRS OF A 


When the representative of Jesus Christ 
advanced to the new Calvary, angels went 
before him, others followed him, all assisted 
him in his holy office.* 

We repeated in the invisible world the 
prayers and the canticles of men. We alter¬ 
nated with them in supplication and in praise. 
Like them and for them we repeated with 
sighs, “Lord have mercy on us!” And soon, 
our voice resuming its vigor, we sang as at 
Bethlehem: “ Glory to God in the highest, 
and peace on earth to men of good-will ! ” 

At the name of Jesus all the hierarchy 
bent the knee. The evil spirits wandering 
over the earth or chained in the abyss, did in 
like manner, but by force, and in spite of 
themselves.f 

When about to accomplish the great act 
of consecration, the priest called on those 
present to give thanks with the angels, and 

* Lives of St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Felix of Valois, St. Igna¬ 
tius of Antioch, Boll. 
fLife of St. Frances of Rome, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


173 


unite themselves to the Redeemer. He bowed 
profoundly and said: “ Holy! Holy! Holy! ” 
and all heaven prostrate repeated with him: 
“ Holy ! Holy! Holy is the Lord, the God 
of armies! ” * 

The altar was then covered with lights and 
burning incense, that transformed it into a 
glowing pyre of love.f 

From each choir of heaven came new spir¬ 
its to offer, like ourselves, to His Father the 
tender Lamb that takes away the sins of the 
world. At the sight of this only object of 
his complacency, the Most High showed but 
clemency and bounty. J 

We addressed ourselves to the Saviour and 
said to him: “ Thanks for those whom you 
have prevented by your love, even to giving 
yourself for them on the cross.” § 

* Philip the Solitary, Letter to the Monk Callinus. Life of St. 
Catherine of Bologna, Boll. 

f Life of St. Clement of Ancyra, Boll. 

% St. J. Chrysostom, Tr. on the Priesthood, b. 6. St. Gregory the 
Great, Dialogues, b. 4. St. Ambrose, Comm, on St. Luke. Life of 
St. Veronica, Boll. 

§ St. J. Chrysostom, On the Incomprehensibility of.God. 

15 * 


174 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


All tlie treasures of mercy were opened 
and given to us. Sunday had drawn from 
the adorable Sacrifice the holiness that was 
to be transmitted to the days of the week, as 
the heart sends blood and life to the mem¬ 
bers of the body. 



LVI. 



of % ifola jf«. 


HE fidelity of our friends was 
not without its trial. They 
had for a long time under 
their eyes a family of profaners, 
who forgot the church on the 
holy day and gave themselves up to 
guilty labor. 
u Do they not prosper as well as you ? ” 
said Satan. “ Are their fields less fertile 
than yours, their meadows less verdant, 
their flocks less healthy, their springs less 
plentiful, their vines less generous ? Is their 
look not smiling, and does not everything 
turn out for them as they wish ? Disabuse 

175 



176 


MEMOIRS OF A 


yourselves: take possession again of a day 
tkat you sacrificed to a chimera.” 

Our friends had not a clear sight to see, as 
we do, the secrets of sovereign justice, and 
understand the mystery of its slowness; but 
the liveliness of their faith, and the light we 
gave them, were enough to lay bare these lies. 

To their eyes the house of profanity sent 
up a dark vapor to heaven that called down 
vengeance; the house of piety gave forth a 
grateful incense that mounted up to gain a 
blessing.* 

Benediction and vengeance did not come 
down to rest only on the upturned soil and 
make it fertile or barren. They fell upon 
souls, and produced effects the most excellent 
or the most disastrous. 

*T is left to eternity to punish the sins of 
time or to reward its virtues. 

The father of the family saw, in spirit, 
countless scourges dart down upon a land. 


* Rupert, Comm, on the Apocalypse, b. 5. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


177 


He beheld storms blast the harvest, winds 
corrupt the fruits, diseases strike down the 
strongest health, tombs open on all sides. 

“ Behold,” said I, “ what the avenging 
breath leaves after it, as it passes over the 
spot where profanity reigns! ’T is God, who 
retakes from the goods and life of man, what 
has been unjustly refused Him or violently 
taken from Him. There, however, mercy is 
still to be seen. These scourges are as much 
warnings as punishments. But turn and 
see.” 

The father of the family turned, and saw 
Divine Justice erect, drawing a bow, and 
pointing the shaft at the breast of a man 
w T ho stood face to face with it. Far from fly¬ 
ing, the madman pretended indifference, and 
seemed to suspect no danger. Temporal 
prosperity and impunity had put a bandage 
on his eyes. The longer the arrow is in 
leaving the bow the more terribly will it fly. 
The wound will be incurable, the pain eter- 
M 


178 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


nal. Such is the lot of the impious man, 
allowed in time to go unpunished.* 

Penetrated with compassion at this sight, 
the father of the family repeated the wise 
saying he had received from his fathers, and 
which he was to bequeath to his children: 

“’Tis folly to refuse God what He asks, 
or to take what he refuses.” 


*St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, Life of St. Genevieve, Boll. 


LVIT. 




hung from the tree, it waved in 


HE part of God and of his poor 


possessions of our friends. It 


was on every side, amid the 


frlf BT w ^ ea t, it coursed in the 

vine, it budded in the soil. We saw 
it in the milk of the flock, in the honey of 
the bee, in the fleece of the sheep, in the stalk 
of the flax. 

While the poor man sated his hunger, 
under this roof so hospitable, warmed his 
members, clothed himself in a new garment, 
or took his rest, his angel overflowed with 


179 


180 


MEMOIRS OF A 


thanksgiving, and sang his hymn of grati¬ 
tude.* 

How many guardian angels passed by in 
this way, and were able to admire the Chris¬ 
tian faith and the goodness of heart that dis¬ 
tinguished this family! 

It happened one day that a stranger seemed 
to take upon himself the work of wearying 
out such touching generosity. Scarcely had 
he left, when he returned with new laments. 
Far from lessening, the aid each time became 
more abundant. All at once the face of the 
stranger shone, his garments became radiant, 
two beautiful wings opened, the angel took 
his flight, and went to tell in heaven what 
he had seen on earth.f 

But not only men and angels came to 
knock at the door of this dwelling: Jesus 
Christ Himself crossed its threshold. He it 
was who, in the person of the poor, had re- 

* Life ol St. Ambrose of Siena, Boll. 

t Lives of St. Gregory the Great, St. Zita, St. Ailus, St. Edward, 
Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


181 


ceived alms, been lodged, fed, clothed, com¬ 
forted, and consoled.* 

Our friends had no false ideas on this point. 
Their house having been for some days with¬ 
out this Divine Visitor, they became sorrow¬ 
ful. “They come to us no longer,” they 
would say; “ perhaps we have offended 
them.” The arrival of a poor man gave 
them new joy.f 

The sight of such charity enraged Satan. 
He sought at first to taint it by means of the 
poison of self-love. How many insinuations, 
how many subtle deceptions, to this end! 
But the friends of God remained as humble 
as they were devoted. 

He hoped to dishearten them by making 
impostors present themselves. He himself 
did not hesitate to play this hypocritical part. 
The father of the family having given alms 
to an unknown person, the man .threw off his 

* St. Matthew xxv. 
f Life of the Ven. Louis of Blois. 

16 


182 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

rags, and showed himself clad in silk and 
gold, crying out in a formidable voice: 
“ Know that thou hast given an alms to 
Satan.” “ I have given it for the love of 
my God,” replied the father of the family, 
“and it is into His hand that my mite has 
fallen.” 



I.VIII. 



HE poor man succor ed, a 
touching spectacle was pre¬ 
sented to us. The Saviour 
ippeared in the midst of the an- 
i, and showed them the piece of 
id, the glass of water, the coin, the 
scrap of cloth, saying: 

“ My servants have done me this act of 
charity.” * 

Seen in the glare of the world, these objects 
were vulgar and common; beheld in the 
brightness of heaven, they were rich and bril¬ 
liant. Charity gave them their price. The 


* Life of St. Martin of Tours. Sulpitius Severus. 

183 




184 


MEMOIRS OF A 


wool of sheep changed into a regal robe, the 
glass of water became a cup of enchantment, 
the humble penny a piece of gold, the morsel 
of bread excelled in whiteness and sweetness 
the manna of angels. 

But the marks of respect and affection, the 
alms of the heart, found the Divine alms- 
seeker moved yet more. What transports 
when, showing us the scar of His foot or of 
His hand, Jesus said to us: 

“ There have their lips been pressed.” * 
We were filled with a sense of our glory, 
and with courage at hearing cherished names 
pronounced before the choirs of angels, and 
to see the looks of all directed to us. 

“ ? T is a beautiful thing,” we said, “ to bless 
God in His glory, and to sing His praises 
in our home; but how much more beautiful 
to assist Him in His distress, and console 
His sorrow in exile! ” 

The part reserved for God, in these fields, 


Life of St. Jerome Emiliau, of St. John of God, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


185 


brought down on them His blessing, and 
turned away scourges. With the movement 
of a wing the angels drove off the storms, 
and under their breath the air became pure 
and healthy. To save the portion of Jesus 
Christ, they saved that of the family. 

But these favors, procured by almsgiving, 
and which God sometimes withholds through 
motives of a higher order, were hardly a part 
payment. The debt was to be paid only at 
the last day, when the Sovereign Judge will 
• call together the nations, to give to each one 
according to his works. 

Our dearest wish was to see these debts 
multiply. As faithful agents, we entered in 
the great book acts of mercy and of charity, 
even to the least of them. 



16 * 





LIX. 



HE plant we were cultivating 
presented a wonderful phe¬ 
nomenon. While to the eyes 
the angels and of heaven it 
was crowned with flowers, in its 
earthly aspect and to the eyes of 
men it bristled with thorns. If the 
thorns were long, sharp, tearing, the flowers 
were striking, brilliant, and fragrant. The 
thorns and flowers were nourished by the 
same sap, and had the same spring. The 
name of this plant was Christian Virtue.* 
When our friends felt the point of the 
thorns, they were tempted to break them. 

* A thought expressed by Pius IX. at Gaeta. 

186 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


187 


We prevented them; they would have killed 
the flowers. 

“ It is good,” we told them, “ that exile 
should not be too enchanting; one would 
cease from sighing and repeating the name 
of his absent country.” 

Like to the shrubs of the East that give 
out their hidden perfumes only when they 
are bruised, their hearts were not to exhale 
the good odor of their virtue save in the 
bosom of trial. 

Wishing to see this virtue grow and be¬ 
come purified, we asked for them of the Lord 
two sorts of blessings that in the desires of 
the saints are never separated: Trouble and 
suffering, patience and love. 

The tribulation God was going to send 
them was a mark of predilection. With as 
much truth as Raphael said to Tobias, we 
could say to them : “ Because you were ac¬ 
ceptable to God, it was needful that tempta¬ 
tion should try you.” * 


* Tobias xii. 13. 


188 


MEMOIRS OF A 


I laid a cross on the shoulders of the father 
of the family. He kissed it, thanked God 
who sent it him, and trusted in my aid not 
to fall under its weight. From that moment 
I became his Cyrenean. 

The pressure of sulfering forced from his 
heart only the oil of perfect resignation, with 
no mixture of the murky scum of blasphemy.* 
Never had he been so noble and so beauti¬ 
ful. Trial had given him a resemblance to 
the Redeemer that we did not find even in 
the most sublime'spirits.f 

It was sweet to realize in others what we 
could not do in our own case. 

“ To suffer! ” we said, “ to suffer for God ! 
oh! how happy are those who enjoy such a 
privilege. We shall receive then always, 
O Lord, and never make any return! We 
shall be overwhelmed with the excess of Thy 
goodness, and not be able to show our grat¬ 
itude by sacrifice and by sorrow! If we 


* St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, 
t Bossuet. On the Guardian Angels. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


189 


stretch forth our hands to offer tears, they 
fall not from our eyes; if we lay sighs at 
Thy feet, they come not up from our hearts; 
if we present the sweat of the brow, it is not 
of ours; if we place on the altar of sacrifice 
one drop of blood, it did not start from our 
veins. In the holocaust of suffering we have 
seen man and God. The angel alone has 
never been a victim ! ” * 


* St. Bernard, Sermon on St. Michael. 



LX. 



of flit ifwilg, 


HEN different seeds are in¬ 
trusted to the bosom of the 
earth, they receive but the 
same sun and the same dew. 
Each flower, however, that springs 
out from it, has its own perfume and 
its own colors. 

So was it with these numerous children. 
Fed at the same breast, fondled on the knees 
of the same mother, formed by an education 
common to all, they soon showed different 
tendencies. The spirit of God breathing in 
different directions inspired a variety of 

190 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


191 


vocations. The guardian angels by this saw 
their various tasks marked out. 

The distance that the Divine will placed 
between the brothers, as they advanced in 
age, did not separate us. We* remained 
united, and were the bond that kept them 
from isolating themselves. 

They could correspond through us, under 
the eye of God, and transmit to each other 
the pledges of their affection. The mutual 
communication they kept up of their spiritual 
goods did not suffer from distance; it was 
prompt, instantaneous. 

There existed a sweet relation between 
the angels of the family. What inter¬ 
ested one interested all. They consulted 
together often on the means of providing 
for the common good, and for private 
wants. 

As angel of the father, I was no stranger 
either to the children or to their angels. The 


192 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


emotions of my brothers were mine: their 
joys were my joys, their sadness my own. 
Never did my heart cease to beat in unison 
with theirs. 




L.XI. 



it mtm< 


ACH one of us wrote a poem 
on the supernatural life of a 
soul. There was the poem of 
the father, of the mother, those 
of the children, of the servant.* 
friends furnished us, by their 
virtues, the subject of our recitals and of our 
songs. From our pen flowed the heavenly 
poetry that embellished all. A thought, a 
word, a sigh, a tear, the least movement was 
precious to us. We hastened to cut the bril¬ 
liant, polish it, and place it where it could 
shine with greatest lustre.f 

* St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. 

f St. Jerome, Comm, on Ecclesiastes. St. Basil of Ca?sarea, Horn, 
on Fasting. St. Bernard, Meditations, 6. 

17 N 


193 



194 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Divine grace was the principle of all good. 
It alone gave fertility to souls and made their 
beauties bud forth. With what solicitude 
did we not induce hearts to follow its inspi¬ 
rations.* 

In the poem we told of the unaffected piety 
of childhood, the ardent generosity of youth, 
the incorruptible fidelity of ripe age, the 
sweet resignation of advanced years, f 

Its perfection did not depend either on the 
outward distinction of life, or on the length 
of it. It came from the merit of the subject 
before God. A few full days gave matter for 
a masterpiece; long, fruitless years would 
have left us in indigence. 

At times of laxity, what deplorable pages! 
In the better days of penance, we corrected, 
effaced, placed in light the good freed from 
evil. 

The angel poets have not all to fulfil a 


* Richard of St. Victor, Comm, on Cant, of Canticles. 
| Life of St. John of God, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


195 


task equally consoling. One human life is a 
flow of beautiful actions, another a tissue of 
crimes. The first presents only generous 
aspiration and magnanimous efforts; the sec¬ 
ond offers but barren desires and cowardly 
longings. 

The poem of which a proud revolt will 
have been the last word shall be condemned 
of inexorable justice, and given over to the 
devils to be the objects of their everlasting 
raillery. 

The one that will have been crowned by an 
humble submission shall be exalted by mercy. 
The angel who wrote it shall recite it sol¬ 
emnly in the assembly of the elect, in honor 
of him who will have been the hero of it. 

This history of his whole life, dictated by 
the just man to his guardian angel, will be 
the only fortune that shall accompany him 
out of the visible world.* 

When in the midst of the last shipwreck 


* Apocalypse xiy. 13, 


196 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


he will swim toward the heavenly shore, 
above his head and on the wing of his angel 
he shall see his poem, that is, his treasure, 
his glory, his immortality. 






LXII. 


of ffiO 


OOOlt v/IIC, 



I. 


ISFORTUNE has come/’ they 
told us; u a terrible blow has 
struck the friends of God.” 

^ Death had come to carry off the 
youngest of the children, and 
upon the knee of the mother was 
seen only a lifeless body. 

Through these scenes of mourning the an¬ 
gel guardian had contemplated a most sweet 
spectacle; he had seen the hand of God take 
up from the earth a young plant, and bear it 
off to heaven. 

The storm would have broken it to pieces. 

17 * 197 


198 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Men did not foresee this; but He, to whom 
everything is present, made it known to the 
angel who cultivated it. To save it, God had 
hastened to put it out of danger. On the 
banks of the living waters of paradise, it 
will flourish in a perpetual spring. 

The mother shed tears, but the Church, 
clad in white vestments of joy, sang: “ Praise 
the Lord, ye children.” * 

And the children of heaven took up the 
refrain that had been said for each of them: 
“ He was taken away, lest malice should cor¬ 
rupt his spirit or vanity lead astray his soul.” f 
They added, in pointing out his budding 
virtues and his rapid progress in good: “In 
a few days he finished a long course.” J 
The angels came in great numbers to re¬ 
ceive him, and lead him to the crowd of in¬ 
nocents that were playing with their crowns 
and their palms before the altar of the Lamb.§ 

* Ps. cxii. 1. f Wisdom iv. 11. + Ibid. iv. 13. 

§ St. Theresa, To a mother who had lost her little child. St. Fran¬ 
cis do Sales, To a mother who had likewise lost hers. Hymn of the 
poet Prudentius. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


199 


The Saviour said, at the sight of him: 
“ Sutler this little child to come to me.” And 
he bestowed with prodigality caresses, em¬ 
braces, and blessings.* 


II. 

Hardly had the child entered heaven, 
clinging always to the hand of his angel, 
and almost as beautiful as he, when he turned 
to look on his father, his mother, and his 
brothers. 

In tears they were burying his body. Had 
God allowed him, he would have had but to 
show himself in the brilliant light with which 
he was shining; every tear would have been 
dried up. 

He often came to take his place at the fire¬ 
side, whither he brought treasures of grace: 
he was the new saint of the family, and one 
of its protectors. He was its glory and or¬ 
nament, f 

* St. Mark x. 14,16. 
f Life of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Boll. 


200 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Far from having lost anything, his affec¬ 
tion had become more lively. A tear in the 
eyes of his mother, a drop of sweat on the 
brow of his father, the slightest cloud of sad¬ 
ness on the face of one of his brothers, touched 
him, and caused the sweetest outpourings of 
his love. 

He heard them, he was there when they 
spoke of him, when they recalled his smile, 
his candor, his engaging ways, and when 
they said: 

“ He would be so old to-day; he would 
resemble such a child ; he would praise such 
an action, rejoice at such an event, share in 
such a favor. What grief to see him no 
more! But he is in the bosom of God, and 
can have the company of his relations, who 
will have without doubt recognized him, al¬ 
though they never saw him on earth.” 

Guided by the guardian angel, a hand 
traced on the tomb: * 


*Life of St. Agatha, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


201 


“Of such is the kingdom of Heaven!” 

Nowhere more willingly did the birds 
come to sport, to sing their carols, and hang 
the nest of their little ones in the green leaves 
that shaded the spoils of innocence. 

In the midst of the shrubbery that inter¬ 
laced its branches, the youngest brother had 
planted some violets and cultivated them. 
A beautiful lily grew there, and ever after 
was renewed each spring.* 

* Life of St. Aureus and Companions, of St. William Infant, of St. 
Agatha, of St. Hildegarde, Boll. 




LXIII- 


tit 


4 % TOW 



HE rustle of a leaf, a voice in 
the night, a fancied apparition 
when alone, made the young 
girl grow pale. Her angel did 
not try to undeceive her: “ It 
said he, “ a saving timidity and 
fear.” * 

One day, when the demon of vanity sought 
to tarnish her soul, he found her deaf to flat¬ 
tery and falsehood. 

Innocence shone on her brow; modesty 
covered her breast; wisdom guarded her 


* St. Ambrose, Comm, on St. Luke. St. Bernard, Comm, on Text 
• Missus est.” 


202 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


203 


heart; no frivolous expressions escaped her 
lips.* 

An exquisite sensibility marked her piety, 
and candor gave her virtue a most touching 
character. 

The foul spirit thought to gain possession 
of a heart at once tender and affectionate. 
He chose a sharp arrow, dipped it in poison, 
and shot it. Under a frail and delicate body 
was a soul of adamant, and the arrow, blunted, 
fell harmless. By plunging this soul into 
the fires of charity, the angel had made her 
invulnerable. 

The young girl disdained bodily beauty, 
which too often gives joy to the Evil One; 
but she was jealous of beauty of soul, which 
comes from the carefully preserved image of 
God. She fled from anything that could 
mar that image, brushed the dust from it, 
and left nothing undone to increase its bril- 

*Tertullian, De Yeland. Yirg. et de Ornatu Muliebri, Boll. 


204 


MEMOIRS OF A 


liancy. She shone with all the beauty proper 
to holy souls.* 

Her angel was seen in her features, in her 
eyes, in her bearing. He brought with him 
and inspired reserve, purified her looks or 
made them turn elsewhere. He was in rela¬ 
tion with the angels of Cecily, of Agnes, of 
Thecla, of all the heroines of Divine love.f 

Jesus said to the angel: “ This heart 
pleases me; I wish to hold it undivided. 
To thee is given to prepare it for its early 
union with me.” 


ii. 

Few souls understand the Divine secret; 
so few seek after it and make themselves 
worthy of it! % 

“ It is,” said the angel to the young girl, 
“ a pearl that the world despises, and which 


* Life of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Boll. 

t St. Ambrose, De Virginibus, 1. 3. Lives of SS. Ida Infant, and 
Ozanna, Boll. 

J St. Matt. xix. 11. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


205 


I value more than the universe; that cor¬ 
rupt souls tread under foot, and pure hearts 
buy at the price of every sacrifice; that the 
impious treat as a vain, chimerical, useless 
object, and the saints call the honor of the 
body, the glory of the soul, the riches of the 
Church, the ornament of angels, the garment 
of the favorites of God.* 

“ This pearl is not hidden in the depths of 
the sea, it is not lying in the bowels of the 
earth; it is in the midst of men; it brings 
them innumerable goods they pass unnoticed. 

“ Guess what is this peerless pearl, and tell 
me what is its beautiful name.” 

The young girl had named virginity. She 
had recognized it by features it shares with 
no other virtue. 

The sight of it had given her an ardent 
desire to have it. 

The angel wished to make the desire more 
lively; he added : 

*St. Athanasius, De Virginitate. St. Jerome, Tr. cont. Jov., b. 2. 

18 


206 


MEMOIRS OF A 


“ Dost thou see that meadow, part of which 
is set out for pasturage of flocks, a part is 
ravaged by unclean animals, and the third 
part is untouched ? 

“ The first offers still to the view its carpet 
of green, but it has no longer the graceful 
beauty the variety of flowers gave it: it 
represents the heart bound by the ties of 
marriage. 

“ The aspect of the second is desolate and 
repelling. It has no verdure, no freshness: 
it represents a heart enslaved by impure 
passions. 

“ Nothing has ruined the beauty of the 
third. The herbage is tall and tender, the 
flowers are bright and sweet-smelling, the 
fruits savory and plentiful: T is the symbol 
of the heart vowed to virginity. 

“ Contemplate virginity in this light, and 
judge if it be worthy of possessing thy 
heart.” * 


* Life of St. Martin of Tours. Sulpitius Severus. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


207 


The young girl vowed to have no other 
spouse but Christ. 


in. 

The angel was the paranymph of this alli¬ 
ance. It was made in the midst of the world, 
but far from profane eyes. Everything took 
place in the secret of the heart. Pure spirits 
only celebrated this unseen wedding. They 
presented to the bride a veil ornamented with 
lilies, and the Saviour put on her finger a 
ring of gold.* 

In the judgment of worldlings her life was 
to be a perpetual widowhood; in the judg¬ 
ment of the angels it passed into a most pros¬ 
perous union. 

The virgin had ever in view only the 
good pleasure of her Spouse, and the interests 
of His glory, f 

Did the angel direct her glance to the 
pages wherein are told the conquests of the 

* Lives of SS. Angela, Agnes, Juetta, Ida, Aldegunda, Boll, 
f St. Augustine, Tr. de Virginitate. 


208 


MEMOIRS OF A 


cross? She sighed after the happiness of 
sacrifice. Did she hear of an outrage of¬ 
fered to virtue, she would have been will¬ 
ing to expiate it with her blood. 

Jesus well deserved such fidelity. Had 
He not first chosen her for his spouse, and 
made her share his inheritance ? 

She had not forgotten the day on which 
He had appeared to her holding in one hand 
a crown of flowers, and in the other, one of 
thorns, and saying to her: u For which is 
thy preference ? ” 

“ As Thou, O Jesus! ” she answered, “ I 
too will circle on earth my brow with the 
diadem of suffering. In heaven alone, 
through your infinite mercy, shall I have 
the crown of glory ” 

The efforts of the world and those of 
Satan were not able to shake her constancy. 
In the presence of seductive objects the angel 
said to her: 

“ What spouse is so rich and so beautiful, 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 209 

so faithful and so good as He of thy choice ? 
What other will give answer neyer to quit, 
even in death, her who has given Him her 
heart ? 

“ Jesus is the ocean of all true love, He is 
the source of it; wilt thou leave the ocean 
and source for a turbid drop that is already 
evaporating ? ” 

iv. 

The words of the angel never ceased com¬ 
ing to the mind of the virgin, and gave 
birth to bright thoughts and generous senti¬ 
ments : 

“ Thou shalt not remain isolated. Vir¬ 
ginity is fruitful. No mother ever had so 
many children as the spouse of Christ. The 
children of the Divine Master shall be thine. 
Thou shalt have for a family the unfor¬ 
tunate.” * 

To the virgin this- language was grateful. 


* St. Augustine, Confessions, b. 8, ch. xi. 
18 * 0 


210 


MEMOIRS OF A 


If there was a sick person to visit, a poor 
man to succor, an afflicted soul to cheer up, 
an ignorant mind to instruct, a sinner to 
save from the abyss: “ Here,” she would 
say, “ is a portion that comes to me. I re¬ 
cognize in these souls the livery of my 
Spouse.” * 

A more than motherly tenderness inclined 
her toward those deserted, and made her 
look on heroic devotedness as simple and 
ordinary. Free from all earthly hindrance, 
she allowed herself to be led by a higher 
love, hastened to every human ill, and gave 
herself up without relaxation to the practices 
of charity. Sweet lamb of heaven, she 
thought not of herself, but for others cov¬ 
ered herself with a rich fleece of good 
works.f 

Her motherhood, coming from her union 
with Jesus, had nothing of nature in it. It 
belonged to a higher order, and came from 


♦ Life of St. Bonna, Boll. 


f Life of St. Adelard, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 211 

grace. It was pure, constant, invincible. 
Its character was Divine, and deeds of good 
could not exhaust its outpourings. 

Like so many others who had gone before 
her in the same paths, the virgin was to ex¬ 
claim, one day: 

“ Whence come to me all these children ? 
Behold the family virginity gives me ! O 
my heavenly Spouse! with what generosity 
have you acted toward me, and what a 
crown have you formed for me! I under¬ 
stand now that if temporal unions people 
the earth, the spiritual union does more; it 
adopts those the world repulses, gives them 
titles of nobility, and fills heaven with 
them.* 

V. 

The courage shown by the virgin, during 
her life, merited, at her death, a special re¬ 
compense. 

To deny everything to passion, to give all 


* St. Cyprian, Tr. on Discipline and Conduct of Virgins. 


212 


MEMOIRS OF A 


to God; to bind in chains the strong tenden¬ 
cies of a rebellious body, to secure the tri¬ 
umph of the law; to remain incorruptible 
and pure in the midst of a dust that soils 
and taints; to anticipate the wonders of the 
last day, and from the present moment put 
one’s self in the condition of spirits : such is 
the endeavor of virginity.* 

What human courage could accomplish 
it? What profane virtue would dare at¬ 
tempt it! 

There are three kinds of courage that God 
rewards in eternity by a distinctive mark: 
the courage of the doctor, the courage of the 
martyr, and the courage of the virgin. 

This sign is an accidental brightness of 
the body and soul, which is called the 
aureola, f 

Luminous color, or colored light, the 
aureola is white in the virgins, red in the 

* St. Augustine, Tr. on Virginity, ch. xiii. St. Basil, 
f St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 96, art. 11. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 213 

martyrs, and tending to green in the doc¬ 
tors.* 

The aureola of the doctor is made up of 
radiant stars, that of the martyrs of brilliant 
gems, that of the virgins of enchanting 
flowers. 

The virgins hold lilies in their hands, the 
martyrs palms, the doctors laurels.f 

Crowned with her aureola, and bearing 
her lily, the virgin was called to take her 
place on the triumphal car of her Spouse. 
She came thither to mingle in our ranks, 
and began her course through the heavens, 
following everywhere the Divine Lamb, and 
singing like us the canticle reserved for vir¬ 
gins and angels.J 


* Henriquez, Tr. on the End of Man, ch. xxvii. § 8. 
f Dom. Soto, Summa Qnarta, Dissert. 49. 

J Apocalypse xiv. 3, 4 




LXIV. 



fif tilt i<iltlicv, 


HE soldier loved his country. 
This land on which the tem¬ 
poral destiny of his ancestors 
was fulfilled, where the trophies 
of their honor were set up, where 
their memory is cherished, where 
their remains repose, where their language is 
spoken, where their laws rule, where their 
faith lives — this land was dear to the sol¬ 
dier’s heart, and he could not hear tell of its 
glories without emotion. 

He has made beforehand the sacrifice of 
his life to it. He will defend it at the price 

of his blood. She is a mother who has borne 

214 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


215 


him in her bosom, who has educated him, 
who has given him a name of which he is 
- proud. She can count on him, and dispose 
of his arm; but the country of this earth 
will not make him forget the country of 
heaven: to this belongs the preference that 
superiority claims. 

The one has rulefs that perish, the other 
an immortal Monarch; the one* has decrees 
of a day, the other laws immutable; the one 
has a banner made glorious by the sword, 
the other a standard made illustrious by 
virtue ; the one has a profane past, the 
other sacred traditions; the one keeps the 
inanimate ashes of his ancestors, the other 
has their living souls; the one gives crowns 
that fade, the other laurels that are ever 
green ; the one has time, the other eternity. 

The angel taught the soldier his duties 
toward his two countries, and showed him 
that to betray one was never a means of 
serving the other. He made him understand 


216 


MEMOIRS OF A 


the alliance between holiness and courage, 
liberty and obedience, purity and honor 

The soldier was animated with the noblest . 
sentiments. His soul had nothing gross or 
brutal. The innocence of his heart was read 
in the severity of his brow. One would have 
said he was a spirit like those God once sent 
under the exterior of shining horsemen, to 
encourage arid free His people.* 


ii. 

He was soon obliged to march against the 
enemy. The news of the approaching com¬ 
bat did not make him fear. 

From the moment the signal was given, 
the angels of the Christian heroes came to 
hover over the field of battle and applaud 
the deeds of valor.f 

When the body of a hero fell, his soul 
flew toward the countless witnesses of his 
devotedness. All welcomed her with honor, 


* Lib. II. Machab. xi. 8. 

f II. Machab. v. 2. St. Thomas Villa nova, On the Angels. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 217 

and congratulated her in having braved 
death. He who had inspired her and sus¬ 
tained her, bore her company everywhere. 
? T was he who led her to the Just Judge of 
intentions and of acts, to the magnificent 
remunerator of every virtue.* 

But when the impious soldier received the 
mortal blow, what a spectacle ! “ Woe! 

woe to him ! ” cried the angel in fleeing the 
scene of mourning. The demons only had 
the right to claim the soul of one who, with 
the most foolish inconsistency, had refused to 
give himself to his heavenly country, in 
devoting himself for that of earth. 

While his glory was proclaimed, and im¬ 
mortality was decreed him among men, his 
soul was loaded with a weight of ignominy, 
and she saw herself condemned to a death 
everlasting at the tribunal of God. 

Oh! how she would have preferred that 
her body, her name, her devotedness had re- 


* St. Thomas Villanova, On the Angels. 


218 


MEMOIRS OF A 


mained lost and unknown among men, and 
that a throne had been prepared for her 
among the pure souls in heaven! For not 
having directed her look and ambition high 
enough, she had made the greatest of sacri¬ 
fices, without profit to herself. 

The angel did not see his young hero 
crowned, in this first combat. Death spared 
him; but it was only to reserve him for 
other perils, and, through them, for greater 
triumphs. 

The assaults he was about to undergo in 
time of peace were not to be less terrible for 
his virtue. 

In repelling them he merited a nobler 
laurel than if he had broken the lines of the 
enemy. The most beautiful of his victories 
was not that which he shared with his com¬ 
panions in arms, but what he knew how to 
win, alone, over himself and over his pas¬ 
sions. 

The angel of the country loved in a spe- 


GUARDIAN ANGEL 


219 


cial manner this soldier and his angel. 
Thanks to them, and those like them, he 
was able to lead to its sublime destiny the 
great and illustrious nation over which he 
had been placed. 






LXV. 


flic flf 'Ijcligimts, 

C ^ g uar( lian angel one day 

s aid to this child so peaceful 
^ and collected : 

“ Come into the desert, and 
under the protection of the walls 
of the cloister; *t is there God 
wishes thee, and to it His voice calls thee.” 

“ Shut myself up for life! ” cried the 
child. 

“ There is nothing astonishing,” replied 
the angel, “ if the doves of the cell refuse 
to light any more upon a soiled world: but 
fear not; this nest of love is only so well 

220 




GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


221 


closed below, that it may be the better open 
above toward heaven.” * 

“ To cut myself off from every one! ” 

“ Thou breakest ofp thy relations with 
men only to have more intimate ones with 
the blessed spirits. The distance between 
the cell and heaven is not great.” f 
“ Obedience seems to me so hard! ” 

“ By obedience thou wilt acquire wings 
like ours, and thou wilt become quick and 
active in doing the will of God.” 

“ Who would not be frightened at such 
stripping one’s self of everything?” 

“ Thou wilt renounce the possession of 
even an atom of dust; but thou shalt have, 
like us, in change, Him who possesses 
worlds.” 

“ Chastity is the privilege of a very few! ” 
“God destines those for it whom He 
cherishes with a more tender love. By it 

* St. Thomas of Villanova, De Expectation Partus, 
f Blessed Guigues, Carthusian, Letter to Brothers of Mont Dieu. 

19 * 


222 


MEMOIRS OF A 


thou wilt withdraw thyself from all attrac¬ 
tion of the flesh, and thou wilt place thyself 
in the midst of us, to be attracted but by 
our common centre, infinite holiness.” * 

“ Will prayer be my occupation day and 
night?” 

“ Thou shalt have ever in thy hands the 
harp of David, to chase away the evil spirits 
and call Jesus with His joys and delights. 

“ In heaven we praise God continually, 
and this praise is so sweet to us that without 
it we could not be happy.” f 
" How coarse this habit is! ” 

“ It will only strike the eyes of those thou 
shouldst not seek to please. To the eyes of 
the angels thou wilt wear the brilliant gar¬ 
ments of those heavenly lilies that labor not 
nor spin, but which eclipse by their splendor 
the magnificence of all the Solomons.” 

“ There is nothing in this rule but sever¬ 
ity and hardship,” 


* Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, lib. 1. St. Chrysologus, Serm. 143. 
Petrus Cantor, Verbum Abbreviatum. 
t St. Chrysostom, Comm, on Ps. 41. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


223 


“ It is a model of great virtue and of high 
perfection. How many souls has it made 
worthy of heaven !” 

“Will it be then the life of an angel I 
must lead?” 

“ Thou shalt live our life; thou wilt gain 
our strength and our beauty ; thou wilt be 
one of those legions of earthly angels so 
often visited by their brothers of heaven. 
Thy life will be as a clear stream, flowing 
over a bed of azure and of stars, and cloth¬ 
ing its banks with sweet-smelling flowers.” * 


II. 

The cloister opened to the novice. The 
first days brought him only consolation. 
Prayer, silence, labor, separation from the 
world — everything pleased him. But Sa¬ 
tan was to have his turn, 

A moment came when everything seemed 

* Baldwin of Canterbury, On the Cenobitic Life. James Alvarez. 
On the Religious Life, b, 1, ch. xii. St. Jerome, Letter to Eustochium. 


224 


MEMOIRS OF A 


veiled in crape. All was dark, sad, hope¬ 
less, and the youth was already saying : 

“ Why bind myself to a kind of life for 
which I feel no attraction ? Cannot one 
save himself in the world as well as here? 
Still, even if I had a little encouragement! 
but it seems to me that God himself rejects 
me, and bids me quit this house.” 

“ Take courage,” said his guardian angel, 
with gentleness; “ recognize the last efforts 
of Satan. He must fear very much thy 
presence in this cloister, that he should 
strive so to get thee out of it. Be firm. God 
has spoken to thee by the mouth of-those 
who represent him: that should be enough 
for thee.” * 

The young man kept his cell, and his cell 
became to him a delightful paradise.f 

At the moment he pronounced his vows 
before God, some champions of the world 
pitied him; but the angels applauded him, 


Life of St. Opportuna, Boll. f Imit. of J. C., b. 1, ch. xx. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


225 


and surrounded this ceremony with great 
pomp. 

From their joy, it would have been said 
that the young religious had entered into 
one of their choirs to be the ornament of it, 
and that the sacred hierarchy counted one 
angel more.* 

hi. 

The religious was tormented still at times 
by temptation; but he was bred to war, and 
gained as many victories as he had to stand 
attacks. It happened that he felt sometimes 
jealousy of the preference shown for one of 
his brethren. The angel forthwith placed 
under the eyes of his spirit on one side a 
heap of gold, and on the other some few 
pieces : “ Compare what each of you has left 
in the world; see how much the sacrifice of 
thy brother exceeds thine, and how inferior 
thou art to him in merit.” f 

* Lives of Blessed Baptista of Varano, of St. Juette, Boll, 
f Life of St. Columbanus, Boll. 


226 


MEMOIRS OF A 


Ambition troubled his repose. He caught 
himself considering in his imagination the 
goods that he would have been able to get 
together by persevering labor in the midst 
of men. The angel made him see in a ray 
of light an obscure atom that vanished in an 
instant. “ There,” said he to him, “ be¬ 
hold the value of the universe to a soul that 
is immortal.” * 

He complained of his dryness. The an¬ 
gel said to him: 

“ When the Divine Master fled across the 
desert, happy were those who ceased not to 
follow Him. They proved to Him that 
their aspirations were pure, and that they 
had only Him in view. For these latter 
were reserved his predilection and caresses.” 

Prevented by illness, he regretted not 
being able to go to the choir to sing the Di¬ 
vine office. The regret pleased the angel, 
who said to him: “ I will go to offer in thy 
place the incense of prayer.” 


* Life of St. Benedict, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 227 

To inspire him with a greater horror of 
temptation, the angel wished to show him 
the tempter himself. He made Satan appear 
to him in a slight flash that furrowed a 
cloud. “ Death! death rather than such a 
sight! ” cried the religious. “ And yet,” said 
the angel to him, “ thou hast not truly seen 
him. The quickness of his passage has not 
let thee judge of his hideousness.” “It mat¬ 
ters not,” said the religious; “ rather than see 
him again thus, I should be willing to walk 
barefoot, to the day of judgment, on a mass 
of live coals.” * 

IV. 

His holy life was of great assistance to 
souls remaining in the world. Thousands 
of voices found an echo in the cell, and from 
every side came angels flying, to bring the 
cries of distress. 

The guardian .angel gave them the favors 


* Lives of St. Catharine of Bologna, of St. Bridget, Boll. 


228 


MEMOIRS OF A 


obtained by the humble servant of God. In 
times of languor and of negligence the angel, 
somewhat saddened, had to put in the hands 
of the heavenly seekers only a feeble suc¬ 
cor; but in days of faithfulness and devo¬ 
tion he felt exceeding joy — he could give 
largely. 

He soon saw the fruit of these merits. 

One night a storm was raging on the 
ocean. A whole fleet saw death before them. 
“ Courage,” cried the chief; “ it is midnight: 
9 1 is the hour when the religious rises to go 
to choir. Before my departure, I recom¬ 
mended the expedition to him.” At the 
first streaks of the morning - light the dis¬ 
persed fleet came together; no vessel had 
perished.* 

The virtue of a just man ran an imminent 
risk. The world was going to be filled with 
the noise of a great scandal. Satan was re¬ 
joicing. 

* Guillaume le Breton, Philippide, 4. Life of St. Columbanus 
Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


229 


In his prayer the religious bethought him 
of souls in trial: there was no fall! 

A soul, a prey to despair, had resolved to 
put an end to her life. She was going to 
brave the justice she did not dream of bend¬ 
ing. . . . What hand will stay her ? The 
hand that, from the depths of the cell, 
stretches itself out to God. 

A sinner, on the point of falling into eter¬ 
nity, was repelling the tenderness of mercy. 
His angel had a hard task to gather, in a 
long life, what he found of good: it was lit¬ 
tle, after such a mass of crimes ! Suddenly, 
in the balance are thrown mortifications and 
fastings. Angel of the cell, still another 
soul who will owe her safety to you! 

A mother was dying. Poor orphans! 
what is to become of you ? They press 
around her, having no resource but their 
tears; who will stop death ? who will save 
for them this hand to guide them, these eyes 
to watch over them, this heart to love them ? 

20 


230 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Angels of these little ones, take their sighs 
and their sobs, fly to the cell, and you also 
will come back with consolation and with 
j°7* 






LXVI. 

^Ij4 ^itjtl of flit |}mst. 


I. 


^ (yzmrfh^Yv HE Levite had grown up in 
the shadow of the sanctuary. 
A high honor was reserved for 
^ him, and the family were going to 
receive abundant blessings. 

From the moment of his birth the 
lgels had known that he would 


shed great lustre around the Church. They 
had come to rest on the roof that covered his 
cradle; they had sung his baptism, and fore¬ 
told his sanctity.* 


* Lives of SS. Moschua, Keintegem, and Gudula, Boll. 

231 


232 


MEMOIRS OF A 


The design of God was beginning to re¬ 
veal itself. The mother of the young man 
was going to understand the vision she had ' 
once had. 

The angel who was to guide her son had 
appeared to her, holding a veil strewn over 
with flowers. She saw this veil float ofl* in 
the distance, open out, and cover the mead¬ 
ows, the woods, and the mountains. “ Thy 
child shall flower for heaven,” said the an¬ 
gel to her, “ and souls without number will 
owe to him their safety.” * 

On the day when he was clothed with the 
priesthood and placed amid the princes of 
the people of God, we saw his angel fall the 
first at his feet, and kiss his hands. 

Those hands that had just received a sa¬ 
cred character, were more resplendent than 
ours. They were going too to exercise func¬ 
tions more sublime, and scatter greater treas¬ 
ures. With the power to touch and bear 


*Life of St. Columbanus, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


233 


sacred things, they had received the virtue 
of making holy and of blessing things pro¬ 
fane. 

In the new priest the guardian angel 
saluted a superior in power and in dignity. 
In going out of the sanctuary he yielded the 
way to him with humble deference. He 
esteemed himself too much honored in ap¬ 
proaching and in aiding him whom he saw 
become an earthly God and a second Jesus 
Christ; him whose word will bring down 
God to earth, and raise souls to heaven.* 

A more perfect life was to correspond to 
so high a dignity : the angel redoubled his 
care. 

The imperfections inherent to human na¬ 
ture, and which remained in the priest, did 
not discourage him: he knew they would 
have their use. 

Subject to weakness unknown of angels, 
the priest will be better able to pity those of 

* St. Bernard, Synodal Disc. St. Francis of Assisinm, Opusc. 22. 

20 * 


234 


MEMOIRS OF A 


sinners. The angels would, perhaps, some¬ 
times feel indignation get the better of their 
pity. The priest will only have to think of 
himself, that everything may become in him 
goodness and gentleness. 

The keys of heaven are well placed in the 
hands of a man.* 


ii. 

When the minister of J. C. mounted the 
chair of truth, the zeal of the angel was in 
his heart and animated his words. The an¬ 
gels of the faithful gave ear, and sent him a 
thousand returns of thanks.f 

When he came to take his seat at the 
Divine tribunal, to absolve sinners and re¬ 
place on their brows the crown they had 
lost, the angel cried in admiration: “ Who 
but God can remit sins, and make pure that 
which was unclean ? ” J 

* St. Chrysostom, On St. Peter and Elias. 

fSt. Bernard, Comm, on the Cant, of Canticles. Lives of SS. 
Basil, Ambrose, Sebastian,Vincent Ferrer, Bernardin of Fettres, Boll. 

+ Job xiv 4. St. Mark ii. 7. Philip the Solitary, Letter to the 
Monk Callirus, 3. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


235 


When, a living throne, the priest had to 
bear in triumph the King of Heaven, and 
distribute to souls the manna of the Eucha¬ 
rist, the angel accompanied him with trem¬ 
bling, himself surrounded by other angels.* 

When he received the infant at the en¬ 
trance of life and clothed it with innocence, 
or when he assisted the old man at his 
departure from the world, and gave him 
strength through the holy unction, the angel 
was filled with joy, and celebrated these 
wonders.f 

But when, in the presence of the heavenly 
court, which he flooded with his light, the 
priest consecrated the Body and Blood of 
the Saviour, and in the name of a God pro¬ 
nounced those words, “This is my Body; 
this is the chalice of my Blood/’ his angel, as 
if annihilated, bent to the earth, and did not 
dare raise his eyes; neither cherubim nor 


* St. Nilus, Letter to Anastasius. 
f St. Gregory Nazianzen, On Baptism. 


236 


MEMOIRS OF A 


seraphim had appeared to him in so elevated 
a position.* 


in. 

The angel of the priest saw in the distance 
the angels of nations, yet sitting in the 
shadow of death, turn toward him with an 
expression of grief, and he heard them cry: 
“ Help us! ” f 

To comply with their wishes, he trans¬ 
mitted to the heart, whose generosity he 
knew, a lively image of this distress, and 
pressed him to devote himself to the salva¬ 
tion of infidels. | 

He did more: armed with a sharp arrow, 
he pierced this heart through, and made it 
feel the irresistible yearnings of zeal.§ 

In a few days the young priest was 

* St. Bernard, Instructio Sacerdotalis. St. Chrysostom, Treatise 
on the Priesthood, lib. 3, and Homily S3. 

f Acts of the Apostles xvi. 9. 

JSt. Jerome, Comm, on Isaiah. St. Nilus, Letters to Mitelius. 
Lives of SS. Vivencian, Patrick, and Paul of Leon, Boll. 

§ Life of St. Theresa, written by herself. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


237 


changed into a fervent apostle, and the angel 
said to him : “ Come.” 

Around about the vessel that received 
them thousands of spirits came hovering, 
swelling the happy sails with their breath, 
stilling the waves, and singing: “ Arise, be 
enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is 
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen 
upon thee.” * 

At the sight of the countless crowns borne 
to souls crushed by slavery, Satan was 
moved. He called together his powers, 
bade them stop the enterprise and over¬ 
whelm it with catastrophe. 

The night, the winds, the lightning, all 
united at his voice; all was confusion, every¬ 
thing was tempest. The heavens and the 
waters struggled with fury, and above their 
roaring were to be heard bursts of hellish 
laughter. 

More than once the vessel was on the 


* Isaiah lx. 1. 


238 


MEMOIRS OF A 


point of being swallowed up, but guardian 
arms upheld it. Despite the demons, the 
angels who direct the elements brought back 
calm and serenity, and all the 'voyagers 
chanted a hymn of deliverance.* 

rv. 

The moment the messenger of salvation 
touched the shore, the angels of the infidel 
people flew to meet him. 

“ Blessed be he,” said they, “ who cometh 
in the name of the Lord! He will be our 
consoler and our aid, he will open to us 
hearts that were closed to us, will make us 
known to those who know us not, will make 
our ministry fruitful. How many souls 
snatched from Satan and carried to the 
arms of their God through the ministry of 
the priest and of the angel! ” 

At the moment the Divine Sacrifice was 
offered for the first time, a heavenly light 


* Life of St. Felan, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGER. 


239 


enveloped the land. The powers of dark¬ 
ness were agitated and made the ground 
tremble. Their authority had just received 
a mortal blow; Jesus Christ was inaugurat¬ 
ing his reign. 

A priestly hand aided by a thousand an¬ 
gelic hands had raised, in the heart of this 
empire, a ladder of the elect. At first we 
saw mount it some souls of little children, 
then some souls of aged men, then souls of 
every age and condition. 

When the apostle directed his course 
through idolatrous peoples, angels led him 
to those who had kept the natural law, or 
had gone astray from it the least, and who 
seemed ripe for baptism or penance. Under 
the appearance of chance an intelligent Prov¬ 
idence became his guide.* 

“ Who art thou that strivest alone against 
a world, and dost triumph over it ? ” cried 
the demon. 


* Life of St. Columbanus, Boll. 


240 


MEMOIRS OF A 


“ My name is Legion / 7 answered the apos¬ 
tle, retorting against Satan the words of 
Satan himself. “ Thou seest only me, a weak 
and infirm instrument; but with me are the 
angels of my relatives and friends, of all the 
souls I am come to save . 77 * 

The Devil thought he had found out the 
secret of a brilliant victory. He wished to 
strike a decisive blow at his adversaries by a 
persecution skilfully planned. His rage de¬ 
ceived him. He was going to become the 
executor of their designs, and was on the eve 
of undergoing a most ignominious defeat. 


v. 

The angel said to the apostle: “ What 
happiness, if in watering with thy blood the 
budding root thou has planted, thou couldst 
give it new increase ? 77 The apostle was 
ravished with joy.f 

* St. Mark v. 9. Origen, Comm, on St. John, 
f St. Augustine, Pref. to the Comment, on the 40th Ps. Tertullian, 
Apologetic 50. St. Epiph. 1. 2, cont. Haeret. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 241 

At the hour marked in the Divine decrees 
for the beginnings of the sacrifice, he was 
seized and thrown into a dungeon. 

The admiration of the angel knew no 
bounds; he could not venerate sufficiently 
the chain that bound his limbs. Borne for 
Jesus Christ, it seemed more brilliant than 
gold; in his eyes it was a bond of honor, 
a splendid ornament, an incomparable livery 
of love: he would have wished to have given 
his wings for it.* 

It would have been easy for him, as for 
the angels that freed the saints, to burst these 
bonds and unbar those doors. He preferred 
seeing hours fruitful in merit and glory flow 
on in this captivity. He sounded the 
depths of the wounds, measured the intensity 
of thirst and of hunger, followed with an 
attentive eye the progress of the sufferings.f 

* St. Chrys., Comm, on Ep. to the Ephesians. Life of St. Felix 
of Nola, of St. Julian of Maus, St. Restituta, St. Mayeul, Boll. 

f Lives of SS. Victor, Eleutherins of Tournai, Alexander Pope, 
Boll. 


21 


Q 


242 


MEMOIRS OF A 


He multiplied consolations to keep up the 
courage of his hero. He lit up the dungeon 
with rays that made its walls transparent, 
and bathed it with perfumes unknown to the 
flowers of earth. He sang, accompanying 
himself with the sound of his vibrating 
wings, and produced a harmony that saved 
from all depression the soul in its trial.* 
When the confessor repeated the psalms 
of bondage and of sorrow, the angels replied 
with those of deliverance and rejoicing.f 
On the vigil of his immolation the priest 
felt an unbounded regret. He would have 
wished to offer once more the holy Victim, 
and fortify himself with the bread of the 
strong; but he lay on the bare earth, motion¬ 
less, his hands tied, and he had neither matter 
nor altar for the sacrifice. 

The angel heaped on him the wondrous 
favors wrought for other friends of God. In 

* Lives of SS. Fursey, Vincent of Saragossa, Romanus, Lawrence, 
Vitus, and Theopompus, Boll. 

f Lives of St. Theogenes, of St. Anastasias Magundatus, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 243 

the midst of a globe of light he appeared to 
him holding a Host white as snow, and wine 
in a cup of gold.* 

“ The altar, where is the altar ? ” asked 
the priest. “ ? T is there,” said the angel; “ it 
is ready, it glows with diamonds and rubies; 
Jesus himself has chosen it. What altar is 
richer than a breast adorned with blood and 
wounds! ” 

The angel placed the bread and the wine 
on the breast of the confessor. The latter 
pronounced the sacred words, received from 
the hands of the angel the bread of life and 
the chalice of salvation, then added: f 

“ ’T is my turn to be ground like wheat, 
that I may become bread worthy of Jesus 
Christ! Happy and a thousand times blessed 
be the hand that will separate me from this 
world to unite me to Jesus! It will be 
stained with guilt while it gives me happi- 


* Life of St. Clement of Ancyra, Boll. 

fLife of St. Lucian, priest of Antioch, of St. Zozimus, Boll. 


244 


MEMOIRS OF A 


ness; but I will pray so ardently the God 
of mercy that He will grant me to be able 
to kiss it one day in heaven.” * 

VI. 

In the heights where the stars are sown, 
clouds of pure spirits appeared. They had 
their eyes fixed on that isle, till now ob¬ 
scure, which had just grown brilliant. A 
Calvary was ready. All heaven descended 
to it.f 

The angel sustained the confessor and 
held his crown. The martyrs in triumph 
bent their palms toward him, in token of 
brotherhood; and Jesus in the midst of 
them opened his bosom to receive him.J 

As the blood gushed forth an infinity of 
hands caught the drops. They formed with 
them a treasure that shall be the wealth of 

* Life of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Boll. 

f Life of St. Columbanus, Boll. 

£ Lives of SS. Julian, Andrew Salus, Timothy, Maura, Boll. ; of 
St. Tryphon, and Respicius, Dom Raynard. % 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


245 


a parricidal people. That blood as a shower 
of graces and blessings will fall upon souls 
to convert and save them: *T is thus the 
martyr revenges himself.* 

At the last sigh a flash darted from the 
clouds and went down into the abyss. Satan 
had been dethroned. The rod of iron had 
flown into pieces. The people so long 
crushed by an accursed foot, were now about 
to breathe. Like a wonderful oil, the blood 
had increased a hundred-fold the fire of Di¬ 
vine love in the hearts of men.f 

The angels were heard singing a song of 
triumph: “ Who is he that cometh clad in 
raiment of purple, glorious with shining 
wounds ? How beautiful is this soldier who 
has conquered hell, has given a kingdom to 
his prince, and who has come laden with 
spoils ! The Church the apostle has founded 

* St. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, lib. 1. 

t Idem, Comm, on Ps. 4. 

21 * 


246 


MEMOIRS OF A 


is worthy of her mother; she bears the seal 
of sacrifice and of immolation.* 

And other angels who surrounded the 
martyr added: 

“Lift up, O ye princes of heaven, the 
gates of the eternal city! The new con¬ 
queror will make his victories serve to build 
up the Jerusalem above. The empty places 
in your ranks shall be filled up. To wicked 
spirits will succeed in love the souls con¬ 
verted by the zeal of the priest.” f 

Laments were mingled with the hymns 
and songs: 

“ Why have you not given us, too, a 
body ? Why shall man alone enjoy the 
happiness of dying for you ? ” { 

But a voice answered these words: “ ’T is 
for man that a God died; — it becomes man 
to die for his God ! ” § 

* Isaias lxiii. St. Ephraim, Eulogium of the Martyrs. St. Cy¬ 
prian, Exhort, to Martyrs. 

fPs. 23. X Michel Vivien, Tertullianns prasdicans. 

gSt. Asterus, Eulogium of the Martyr St. Phocas, Tertul. de 
Resur. 8. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 247 

A thousand leagues from this Calvary a 
prodigy filled hearts with emotion. 

At the paternal fireside had remained 
hanging, silent and mute since his departure, 
the guitar on which the future martyr ac¬ 
companied himself as he charmed the family 
with holy canticles. This guitar began of 
itself to sound with sweet notes, accompany¬ 
ing a heavenly voice that said: 

“ Hajypy are the saints who have followed 
the footsteps of the Lamb! Their souls re¬ 
joice in the sacred precincts. And because 
they have shed their blood for Jesus Christ, 
they will reign eternally in his glory.” * 

VII. 

In his diadem the priest could count as 
many jewels as he had saved souls. These 
souls hailed him with joyous acclamations : 

“ Glory to the apostle, to the confessor, to 
the pastor, to the martyr ! ” f 


* Life of St. Dunstan, Boll, 
f Life of St. William, Ab., Boll. 


248 


MEMOIRS OF A 


While he was receiving his crown in the 
bosom of God, his memory and his remains 
were having on earth the honors that only 
the Church can dispense. 

Love had broken the vase of perfumes 
upon the feet of the Master, and the per¬ 
fumes had been spread around. The precious 
fragments were to be gathered, to continue 
giving forth their sweetness for ages to 
come.* 

The tyrant who had just given heaven to 
the martyr, would have wished to refuse him 
the earth. He ordered the body to be car¬ 
ried far out to sea, to be buried in the waves. 

It was seen on the horizon like to a sun 
that rises from the waves and darts his first 
rays. Angels brought it back to the shore, 
fanning it with their wings, and chanting 
the victory of which it had been the instru¬ 
ment, f 

* St. Pascliasius Radbertus, Comm, on St. Matthew, 
f St Theodore Studite, Discourse on the Assembly of the Heavenly 
Hosts Lives of SS. Clement of Ancyra, Agathangelus, Thyrsus, 
Andeol, Julian, Pr., Boll. 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


249 


Enlightened by this homage, men came 
in their turn to honor the august relic. It 
spread around a heavenly virtue that inspired 
holiness, and wrought miracles. 

The tomb that covered it soon became 
glorious. It was seen to rise, grow larger, 
extend and transform itself into a vast 
church, which will remain, under the name 
of the martyr. 

His holy relics lie under the altar of 
sacrifice. Each day, through all time, the 
Saviour will come to immolate himself on 
the body of his priest immolated for his 
God. 

The martyr will live in the memory of 
his neophytes. They will tell his history to 
their children, and give them his name. 
They will teach them to pray to him, to 
bless him, to celebrate his triumph each year. 
To the latest posterity the remembrance of 
him shall be full of love.* 


* Eccl. xliv. 



LXVII. 


tlii! ^itfrd of Kit ijfrtljtt. 


EAKENED by age, and see¬ 
ing her end near, the mother 
blessed God for His favors 
granted her in her children. 
The angel called together about 
her the angels of the family, and 
asked them what had been the joys 
of their ministry. Each one answered by 
praising his charge. 

The angel of the little chosen one unfolded 
the robe of innocence; the virgin’s showed 
the brilliant roses of Divine love; the sol¬ 
dier’s held up the banner nobly defended ; 
that of the religious spoke of heaven on 

250 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


251 


earth; the priest pointed with his hand to 
the altar of consecration, to the ladder of 
salvation, to the dungeon, to the Calvary. 

“ Thanks, well-beloved brothers,” said to 
them with a sweet smile the angel of the 
mother. “ These are my treasures you have 
just displayed. How weave for the mother 
a crown of glory without taking for it some 
rays of beauty from those of her children ? 
Is she not the stem upon which they have 
flourished, and did they not receive from her 
the first perfume of their holiness ? * 

“ She promised them to God before their 
birth, consecrated them to Him on the day 
of their baptism, and never after ceased re¬ 
newing an offering dear to her faith.f 

“ I have seen her rejoicing in their joy, 
suffering in their sorrow, weeping with their 
tears, living more in them than in herself. 

“ ’T was thus she prepared them for the 


* St. Theresa, On Foundations, ch. xx. 
f Life of St. Gregory Naz., Boll. 


252 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

sacrifices you caused them to make, and she 
had to share. She was the free instrument 
of grace to bring about the acts you were rav¬ 
ished in beholding.* 

“ How sweet it is to me, my well-beloved 
brothers, to hear you celebrate the glory of 
the mother of the family ? Soon I will in¬ 
voke your testimony before God. When I 
shall be asked about her life, I shall let the 
angels of her children speak. Her children 
and their virtues will be the precious stones 
and jewels with which she will be decked 
on entering heaven, f 

“ This angel was the one I loved most, and 
who most loved me. He found in me the 
angel of Jacob, and I saw in him the angel 
of Rachel.” 


* St. Peter Damian, Serm. 17. 
f St. Jerome, Letter to Eustochium. 



LXVIII. 



of tilt 




HROUGH the coarse gar- 
^ ments of the good servant his 
^§7 angel showed us the super- 
''m natural brightness his soul shed 
around. Pure and beautiful 
was the virtue that adorned it, but 
it had not been gained without ef¬ 


fort. 

In the secret of his heart, Satan said to 
him one day : “ Why are these the masters, 
and you only a servant?” “ And why in the 
body are the eyes the eyes, and the hands 
only the hands?” replied at once this simple 
man, inspired by his angel. 


22 


253 



254 


MEMOIRS OF A 




Satan wished to make him fail in his trust. 
“ You are alone,” said he; “ no one sees you, 
no one will be able to suspect you.” “ And 
the Eye that watches from the depth of eter¬ 
nity, since when has it grown darkened?” 
answered once more the angel by the voice 
of the servant. 

Satan, seeing his unshaken virtue, tried to 
fill him with vanity. With perfidious voice 
he said to him : 

“You are humble, pious, docile, faithful 
in everything. There are few servants as 
perfect as you. You have been leading a 
holy life for a long time. I am an angel 
sent by God to congratulate you on your 
victories over the Evil One, and to show you 
the greatness of your merits.” * 

To warn him of the snare, the guardian 
angel presented to the mind of the servant a 
mirror, in which were united all the infideli- 

* Paralipomena of SS. Pacomius and Theodore. St. John Clima- 
cus, Scala Coeli. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


255 


ties of his life, and all the imperfections he 
still had. The servant was horror-stricken 
at the sight of himself, and hastened to say 
to the unmasked deceiver: 

“ They have played with you, beautiful 
angel. The magnificent description they 
have given you is not of me. For my part, 
I am only a miserable sinner.” * Satan had 
fled, and the good servant received from his 
angel a pledge of the warmest affection. 

Caring little for worldly acquaintances 
from whom his position kept him aloof, he 
had made astonishing progress in the science 
of salvation. With his angel for his master, 
and his crucifix for his book, he had acquired 
the practice of solid virtues. 

’Twas from this school and from this book 
that he drew his last consolation. When 
death came, it found him giving ear to his 
angel, and with his head bent over the 
image of Jesus on the cross. 

*Book of the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers. 


256 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


Never had a wealthy, thoughtless man at 
his funeral so noble a cortege. The carriage 
was surrounded by angels, who repeated the 
Divine words : 

“ Well done, good servant! Because thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
intrust to thee many things. Enter into the 
joy of thy Lord.” * 

* St. Matthew v. 11. St. Chrysologus, Serrn. 115. Life of St. 
Raygnier, Boll. 




LXIX. 




UR ministry as guardian an¬ 
gels had in no wise suspended 
our relations with our brothers 
in heaven. On the contrary they 
have been rendered more fre¬ 
quent. We were obliged to have 
recourse to their mediation, not for 
ourselves, but for the souls we were guiding.* 
In that vast hierarchy God forms among 
the spirits, grace is transmitted from the 
highest to those beneath them. The Re- 


* St. Dionysius, De Coelest. Hier., iii. iv. St. Thomas, De Angelis, 
q. 107, 111. 

22 * 


257 


258 


MEMOIRS OF A 


deemer is the principle of it. It flows from 
His breast to the heart of Mary — comes 
down through the Seraphim, the Cherubim, 
the Thrones, the Dominations, the Virtues, 
the Powers, the Principalities, the Archan¬ 
gels, the Angels — until it reaches man.* 

All is bound together in this sublime con¬ 
trolling agency; and it is in this way we 
form the living providence of God. 

Men ponder with admiration the source 
whence grace flows, and behold its beauty, 
life, and saving influence burst forth. But 
do they dream of the brilliant channel 
through which these fertilizing waters come 
to them ? 

What enchanting joy for the father of the 
family the day he saw that immense chain, 
the first link of which was in the heart of 
God, and the last in the hand his good 
angel stretched out to him! f 


* Nicetas Choniates. Treasure of the True Faith, b. 2, c. lx. 
f St. Hilary, Comm, on Ps. 118. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


259 


Without these relations of earth with 
heaven, what would become of man ? 

To get hold of the souls he besets, the 
demon would not have need of violent at¬ 
tacks. Barrenness and famine would soon 
give them up to him. 

To banish the angels from this lower 
world would be to strip it of its glory and 
of its ornaments. Instead of shining with 
light and life, it would have for its part only 
darkness and death. Men would give up 
those magnificent heights where pure spirits 
preside, and would dream only of burying 
themselves in the depths of matter.* 

Without the angels this world here below 
would have neither poetry, nor grandeur, nor 
anywhere in it could hope be hailed. Well 
does he know it who sows everywhere the 
seeds of rationalism that so great a number 

* St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 4. St. Ambrose, Coinm. 
on St. Luke. 


260 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


of souls take in. He does not destroy 
spiritual and supernatural realities, but he 
veils the view of them, and keeps hearts from 
lifting themselves to their level. 


LXX. 



mm 




u n duties did not withdraw 
us from the Divine Counte¬ 
nance. We had it ever pres- 
ent to us. and in its light all 
fi that exists was seen.* 

Our movements were made in the 
bosom of God. Through the bril¬ 
liant regions of infinite space we mounted, 
we descended, we directed our untrammelled 
flight. 

Our country filled us with its charms 
even in the midst of the exile in which 
we followed our friends. 


* St. Matthew xviii. 10. St. Gregory the Great, Moralia, 2. St. 
Thomas, De Angelis, qusest. 112, art. 3. 


261 


262 


MEMOIRS OF A 


No distance dimmed onr sight, no ob¬ 
stacle hindered it, no shadow troubled it, no 
multiplicity of objects distracted it, no com¬ 
bination of things absorbed it, no detail es¬ 
caped it. 

There is no tiny worm of the earth, no 
grain of sand, no drop of dew, whose destiny 
is not as well known to us as that of 
worlds. 

And, in like manner, heaven offers us no 
palm, no crown, no jewel, the history of 
which has not had us for witnesses, and 
which is not a touching token for us. 

The care we give to a soul does not keep 
us from hearing the harmony of angels, and 
taking part in it, from assisting at the tri¬ 
umph of the just and applauding it, from 
seeing the prayers of men ascend, and from 
admiring the distribution of graces. 

Heaven, earth, hell, are unfolded before 
us. For us struggle, chastisement, reward, 
have no secret. The Divine Countenance 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


263 


spreads over all creation a clearness that 
nothing can veil from our eyes. 

In their present state, men find it hard to 
conceive this privilege. Only glory can give 
the force and strength of spirit necessary for 
the clear and simultaneous view of things. 




LXXI. 



A** 


each member of the 
family was following the way 
in which he had been called 
by God, and was fulfilling his 
destiny, a void began to be made 
around its head. The companions 
of his childhood had disappeared. He was 
there like the relic of a past age. 

One friend, however, kept by him, a very 
old friend, though full of youth, the one 
God had given him at his entry into life, 
who watched over his cradle, and was pres¬ 
ent every moment of his career in life. 

“ My friendship,” said he, addressing the 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


265 


soul, u has not grown cold on account of the 
ravages of time undergone by the body. In¬ 
firmity and age have not been able to affect 
it.” The Soul of the old man was as vigor¬ 
ous and as healthy as on the first day. I saw 
in her an eye more pure, an ear as delicate, 
as serene a brow, as tender a heart. 

My interest had grown on account of the 
care I had lavished upon him. The more 
this soul had cost me, the dearer she was to 
me. I did not wish to have done her in 
vain so many acts of generosity. Is it not 
when the bee has hovered longest around 
the flowers that he has most love for his 
treasure ? * 

I fortified the friend of God against dis¬ 
couragement and melancholy. When the 
earth grew sombre and showed him only 
things that were perishable, I made him see 
the splendors of heaven, and fixed his 
thoughts on things that do not pass away. 

* St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. 

23 


266 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

My presence dissipated the shadows 
around him, and consoled him in his mo¬ 
ments of weakness. It took the place, for 
him, of relations and friends; I, alone even, 
was for him the whole world. I could not 
think of his near entry into glory without 
lively joy. I had not to wait long before 
seeing his last hour. A long life is so great 
a good for those who pass it in the friend¬ 
ship of God! It is by a long life that a vir¬ 
tuous soul can increase indefinitely her merits 
and raise herself above the angels. The 
angels had but one moment to merit.* 


* St. Thomas, De Angelis, qusest. 62, art. 5. 


LXXII. 


f \t irl(llt$$ + 



pi OI) wished to purify him by a 
last sacrifice, to make him 
^ gain a more beautiful reward. 
Sickness came upon him. 

* I never left his pillow. My 
place was near the pyre upon which 
were to be burned the remains of 
his imperfections. 

While I was urging him to unite his suf¬ 
ferings with those of his Saviour, he saw, in 
spirit, angels descending from heaven and 
ranging themselves around his bed. One 
held in his hands the cross, another the 

lance, a third the nails, a fourth the thorns, 

267 


268 


MEMOIRS OF A 


a fifth the reed, one other the column, and 
another the chains.* 

At the sight of these instruments, borne 
with respect by angels, he felt a lively im¬ 
pression of the Divine sufferings, and aspired 
on his part only to undergo his passion. 

Without lessening the price of his holo¬ 
caust I tempered the bitterness of the cup. 

“ Courage ! ” I said to him; “ thanks to 
infirmity and sickness, your body is going to 
fall into dust. ’T is the wall raised between 
you and your country that is shaken and 
falls down. Will you complain if the pass¬ 
age through the breach gives you some mo¬ 
ments of trial? Happy pilot, will you 
choose the hour of entering port to give 
yourself to sadness? Is it not rather the 
time to dry your tears, and give forth a 
chant of joy ? ” 

These thoughts were so gently insinuated 
into his heart that they seemed to well up 


* Life of St. Lidiwina, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


269 


of themselves, and he took them for his 
own. 

I became in this way the instrument of 
Divine mercy, to soften the hard couch upon 
which he lay. My compassion and solici¬ 
tude redoubled and grew with his pains.* 

* Ps. xl. 4. St. Pantaleo, Discourse on St. Michael. 



23* 


LXXIII. 



itltltp of 


night, as I was engaged in 
consoling him, I perceived, in 
the house of God, angels who 
, were strewing, on the pavement 

Q of the sanctuary, violets, lilies, 

and roses. 

“ What are you doing, my blessed breth¬ 
ren ? ” I asked them; “ and what does this 
spectacle mean ? ” 

“ We shall soon have a feast here,” they 
answered, “ and we are making the prepara¬ 
tions.”* 

I understood for whom this feast was in 


* Life of B. Robert, Cistercian. 


270 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


271 


reserve, and what part I was to take in it. 
It was to be celebrated in the midst of the 
tears of earth and the joys of heaven. 

The moment had come to do a favor to 
the old man, that God reserves for His most 
intimate friends. 

Up to this the uncertainty regarding the 
term of his career had been a benefit. It 
had stimulated him to vigilance and fervor. 
He sanctified each day of his life, when each 
one might be the last 

But on the eve of his departure certainty 
became a grace. 

In fixing his thoughts on a point sure and 
so near, what would not be the result ? what 
detachment from all that is earthly! what 
elevation of thought, what regret for faults, 
what darts of love! 

I revealed to him the day and the hour 
when he would burst the bonds of his cap¬ 
tivity. “ I rejoice,” he cried, “ at the words 


272 


GUARDIAN ANGEL 




that are said to me: we shall enter into the 
house of the Lord.”* 

*Ps. cxxi. Lives of SS. Meneleus, Stephen Sabaite, Paul of Leon, 
Cedd., Boll. 







LXXIV. 



pt ^upplicattim, 

INCE he had no longer facil¬ 
ity of speaking to God, it was 
my duty to speak for him. 
While still full of vigor and in 
the strength of youth, he had 
placed in my heart this supplication: 


“ My good Angel! / 

“ I know not when nor how I shall die. 
It is possible I may be carried off suddenly, 
and that before my last sigh I may be de¬ 
prived of all intelligence. Yet how many 
things I should wish to say to God on the 
threshold of eternity! 

“ In the full freedom of my will, to-day, I 
S 273 


274 


MEMOIRS OF A 


come to charge you to speak for me at that 
fearful moment. You will say to Him then, 
O my good angel: 

u That I wish to die in the Catholic, 
Apostolic Roman Church, in which all the 
saints since Jesus Christ have died, and out 
of which there is no salvation : 

“ That I ask the grace of sharing in the 
infinite merits of my Redeemer, and that I 
desire to die in pressing to my lips the cross 
that was bathed in His blood: 

“ That I detest my sins because they dis¬ 
please Him; and that I pardon, through 
love of Him, all my enemies, as I wish my¬ 
self to be pardoned: 

“ That I die willingly because He orders it, 
and that I throw myself with confidence into 
His adorable heart, awaiting all His mercy: 

“ That in my inexpressible desire to go to 
heaven, I am disposed to suffer everything it 
may please His sovereign justice to inflict on 
me: 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


275 


u That I love Him before all things, above 
all things, and for His own sake; that I 
wish and hope to love Him with the elect, 
His angels, and the blessed Mary, during all 
eternity. 

“ Do not refuse, O my angel, to be my 
interpreter with God, and to protest to Him 
that these are my sentiments, and my will.” * 
My heart and my voice went together in 
repeating to God, at the stated time, this 
beautiful protest. God accepted it as if it 
had come that moment from the soul of the 
dying man. 


* St. Ch. Borromeo, Supp. to his Angel Guardian. 



LXXV. 



AT AN; seeing his struggle 
with me about to commence, 
showed a desperate obstinacy.* 
What difference did it make to 
him to have been up to that time 
defeated and covered with shame? 
If he had been able to gain in this 
last combat, would he not have been consoled 
for his former failures ? 

Not having been able to strand the ves¬ 
sel when it was passing through dangerous 
straits, and was sailing between the reefs of 


* J. Lopes, Abridgment of the Teaching of the Holy Fathers. 

276 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


277 


the coast and the fury of the high seas, he 
came to await it at the port.* 

At his voice legions of dark spirits ran to 
aid him. He gave the preference to those 
who had most tormented the good Christian 
during his life. They would know best 
with whom they had to deal.f 

“Recall,” he said to them, “the faults 
into which you made him fall. Exaggerate 
them in his sight as much as you formerly 
lessened them. Transform into a crime 
what you before suggested as harmless. 
Crush him under the weight of these sad 
memories. Already oppressed by disease, he 
will not be able to offer a long resistance. 
Discouragement and despair—these are your 
arms; if they do not gain us the victory, all 
is lost! Go, then, and outdo yourselves. 
Whoever will ruin him shall have the satis¬ 
faction of tormenting him in hell.” J 

* St. J. Chrysost. Comm, on the Text, Vidi Dominum. 

f J. Lopes, Op. cit. 

JSt. Thomas, On the Angels, q. 113, art. 4. 

24 


278 GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

Just as vile vultures, in rapid flight, pass 
over the clear streams, the smiling plains, 
the golden harvests, to go light, in an infec¬ 
tious marsh, on some unclean prey, so the 
demons, going through the extent of this 
beautiful life, shut their eyes to the good due 
to the energy of virtue, and gathered only 
the evil that had been the result of weak¬ 
ness.* 

Thoughts of discouragement beset the 
dying man. He, who had led a holy life, 
after some faults immediately wept over, 
heard day and night threatening voices: 
“Woe to thee, accursed; not one sin has 
been remitted thee! ” 


* St. Basil of Caesarea, Homily on Envy. 



LXXVI. 





N the midst of darkness I re¬ 
assured the just man: 

demons roar; con- 
jjjX tinue to hope. For whom are 
3 those sufferings and that death 
of the Redeemer, if not for those 
who with faith claim the aid of 
them, and apply to themselves their effects ? 
Do you think that He will, with that hand 
pierced for love of you, repel you from that 
heart in like manner pierced for love of 


you 


9 * 


The remembrance of your faults 
should humble you, not make you lose cour- 


* Jean Lopes, Abridgment of the Teaching of the Holy Fathers, 

279 


280 


MEMOIKS OF A 


age. You placed them in the bosom of 
mercy, and you can rely on the indulgence 
of a God, the friend of hearts that repent. 
If you fear you have not been severe enough 
in your self-accusations, look again into the 
secrets of your conscience, and the last abso¬ 
lution will remove at a touch the last stains. 

“You regret not having sufficiently ex¬ 
piated faults that have been pardoned ? 
Penance comes to you of its own accord; be¬ 
hold it in the pains you suffer. It is the 
choice of your Saviour, and is worth much 
more than what you would choose. Suffer 
and hope; and hope because you suffer.” 

He fixed his gaze on the wounds of Jesus, 
and heard the voice that knew how to say to 
a life-long friend, better even than to the 
friend of a moment: “ This day thou shalt 
be with me in paradise.” * 

? T was in this way I fixed him to the chain 
which hangs from heaven toward the elect, 


* St. Luke xxiii. 43. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


281 


and which is called hope. Holding to it 
strongly, he was bold enough to say to the 
tempter : * 

“ In vain, cruel beast, you come to lay 
snares for my soul. It belongs to you by no 
title. You will find nothing in me, on which 
your malice can lay hold. I belong to God, 
to His mercy, to His love; in this I am, and 
in this I shall be for all eternity ! ” f 

* St. Chrysost., To Theodoras. 

j- Life of St. Martin of Tours. Sulp. Severus. 



24* 



LXXVII. 


JjUinmw 


HE dying Christian was an 
athlete fighting his last com¬ 
bat. To make him equal to 
the undertaking, the Church con¬ 
ferred on him extreme unction. 
The priest said, on entering, “ Peace 
to this house and to all who dwell in it. 
May wicked spirits depart, may good angels 
come, and may the guardian of this house 
drive from it all fear and troubles.” * 

By the imposition of hands made in the 
name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 



* Ceremonies of Extreme Unction. 


282 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


283 


Holy Ghost, the minister of Divine consola¬ 
tions drives off the influence of Satan. He 
then invokes the angels, archangels, patri¬ 
archs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, 
and virgins, and places the sick man under 
their protection. 

The guardian angel of this house, at the 
same time that of its head, calls together the 
angels of the family. They come with glad¬ 
ness to this roof, -which was the asylum of 
such beautiful virtues. They bring with 
them, in the name of the children, precious 
aid for the dying man. 

Upon each organ, and upon each sense, is 
traced the sign of the cross. The power of 
this sign destroys the last vestiges of sins 
committed by sight, hearing, smell, taste, 
speech, touch, and motion. 

We admired, in this work, the sweetness 
of mercy. It did not cease to surprise us by 
the variety and efficacy of its means. It was 
inexhaustible in resources, and adapted them 


284 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


to each want of the soul. In putting to¬ 
gether its treasures, it had in view the com¬ 
plete reunion of human weaknesses. 

The cross was to the demons as a rampart 
that covered the just man, and allowed him 
to brave them; or like the sword, which 
through the angels gave them bloody wounds; 
or like an invulnerable hammer that crushed 
their serpents’ heads, or like a net in which 
they were taken, believing they would en¬ 
snare the God-man by it.* 

They continued to roar, but their roaring 
only expressed impotence. Audacious as 
they were before, they were now as timid. 
They had commenced to tremble, from the 
time they had seen this soul gain new 
strength, and in his turn threaten them. 
Bold before cowards, they will always be 
cowards before the brave, f 

* St. Chrysost., On St. Matthew. Life of Blessed Bagnesia, Boll, 
f Ps. lxxxviii. 


LXXVIII. 




OT content with having placed 
the dying man beyond the 
reach of Satan, the Redeemer 
wished himself to be his strength 
and defence. 

He whom we have seen become the 
God of innocence, the God of the 
sinner, the God of the penitent, the God of 
the just man, put the finishing stroke to His 
goodness in making himself the God of the 
dying Christian. 

Accompanied by angels, who bore their 
torches, He quitted his tabernacle, went out 
of the temple, traversed the streets, pene- 


286 


MEMOIRS OF A 


trated into the by-ways, betook himself to 
the humble dwelling, and visited the friend 
from whom He had first received such cor¬ 
dial visits.* 

From the look he gave him, he seemed 
to us sweet as love, tender as compassion it¬ 
self, indulgent as mercy. In the presence 
of the princes of heaven who formed his 
Eucharistic Court, he manifested his love 
for a man lost in the obscurity of a simple 
life. 

He did not offer him only the aid of his 
ministers or the succor of his arm; he said 
to him: 

“ Open to me thy heart; ? t is in the bosom 
of thy body and of thy soul I wish to place 
myself. Thou shalt not depart without me, 
but with me thou shalt go without fear. 
Whoever rises up against thee will soon find 
he has to do with a God.” 

The Divine Viaticum gave the traveller 


* Life of St. Veronica de Binasco, Boll. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


287 


light, patience, courage, all he could desire, 
all his enemies could fear. 

The devils dreamed no longer of coming 
near him. In that breast they felt was hid¬ 
den their ruler and their judge. They saw 
themselves disarmed, and acknowledged 
themselves vanquished.* 

I rejoiced in their dismay, and in the con¬ 
fidence of the old man: “ What do you 
fear ? ” I said to him; “ you bear in youi 
body the Master of life and of death, the 
King of time and of eternity.” 

* St. J. Chrysostom, Comm, on the 41st Ps. Homily 61. Life ol 
St. Mucarius, Boll. ^ 




LXXIX. 




T last the soul had to depart. 

“You who loved her, re- 

main there! You cannot fol¬ 
ds' 

low her with your look, and 
^ ^ know what way she takes. She 
will not be able on her part to send 
you any token of joy or of sorrow. Oh, 
solitude! Oh, frightful isolation! ” 

But no! solitude and isolation were 
only imaginary. This soul was not con¬ 
demned to cross alone and unguided the 
fearful threshold. 

A companion was with him, that of his 

288 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


2S9 


whole life, he who had aided him in taking 
so many difficult steps.* 

“ Give me thy hand, soul dear to me as a 
sister. *T is not to-day thy guardian angel, 
who was so devoted to thee, will abandon 
thee. I know the way thou art about to 
take : I have gone over it so often when 
taking thy prayers to God, and bringing 
back from God His graces.” f 

I was yet speaking. . . . “ Silence!” cried 
all at once the dying man; “ do you not hear 
that harmony and those chants ? ” 

The assistants were still; they listen, they 
see the feeble hands strive to raise them¬ 
selves to heaven, they hear him murmur: 

u I salute you, O my guardian angel, and 
I wish you the good day of eternity! I sa¬ 
lute you, O Mary, my mother; O Jesus, my 
Eedeemer; O ye blessed elect, who form the 

* St. Bernard, On Ps. xc. 

f Tobias v. 7, 8. St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. St. 
Bernard, Comm, on the Cant, of Canticles. 

25 T 


290 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


crown of my God. I salute you, and wish 
you the good day of eternity.” * 

There his words ceased, but his look 
seemed to follow an apparition, f 

They approach him with religious respect, 
they admire the calm of his features, the 
smile of his lips, the supernatural beauty of 
his countenance. They are afraid of disturb¬ 
ing his extasy, they scarcely dare draw 
breath, they wait .... And he too waits, but 
upon another shore. Gliding lightly from 
the dust that clothed her, his soul has taken 
her flight to the pure spirits. 

* Lives of SS. Servulus, Veronica, Boll.; of St. Redempta. 
f St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues. Death of Louis XVII., de Beau 
Ch&re. 



LXXX. 




HE last breath drawn, and the 
veil rent, where did the soul 
of the old man see herself? In 
the arms of her angel. For the 
first time I appeared to her as I 
am, and I gave her the fraternal em¬ 


brace. 

How sweet was my presence to her! My 
holiness, my greatness, my power with God, 
all was consolation for her. She saw herself 
more than indissolubly united to me. 

From our very first steps into eternity we 
saw ourselves surrounded by joyful choirs 
who wished us welcome, in congratulating us 

291 


292 


MEMOIRS OF A 


on our victories. They closed their brilliant 
circles around us, waked to life their harps, 
and spread around a light that enveloped us 
in a common aureola.* 

The apostles bore on their foreheads that 
royal majesty which will strike the eyes of 
all at the last day, when, as an august senate, 
they will sit with Jesus Christ to judge the 
universe, f 

The martyrs came forward as an army of 
conquerors, distinguished by garments whiter 
than snow, and by wounds more resplendent 
than the sun. 

The confessors reproduced in the shades of 
their beauty, the infinite variety of their vir¬ 
tues, and were alike in that perfect purity 
marked by the lilies with which they were 
crowned. 

The virgins applauded with their hands, 

* Prayers for the Recommendation of a Soul. Lives of SS. Ermi- 
tus Infant, Germanus of Capua, Aidanus, Pour§ain, Stephen of 
Grammont, Louis of Toulouse, Boll, 
f Prayers for the Recommendation of a Soul. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 293 

and cried out for joy, and sang again the 
canticle of the Lamb, at the sight of a soul 
saved by His blood. 

At the head of the heavenly legions was 
the Archangel Michael, chief of the armies of 
God, and the great conductor of just souls 
into eternity. He bore in one hand the 
sword of flame, and in the other the standard 
of Divine victories. 

Received at the entrance of the invisible 
world by this beautiful cortege, we had not 
to pass through any region of darkness. No 
snare, no enemy was met with on the road. 
Satan and his satellites, after having observed 
from a distance the events of our agony, had 
fled, saying, “ One more soul who will en¬ 
joy glory inaccessible to demons.” * 

* Prayers for the Recommendation of a Soul. 



25* 



LXXXI* 

Ciic iiuifimcnt. 

PRESENTED the soul to 
the Judge. He held out his 
hand to her: “ Well-beloved 
soul, fear not. Recognize the 
Master thou hast served faithfully, 
and whom thou hast made thy debtor. 
Thou didst prefer me to everything, in time, 
shall I be able to disown thee in eternity ? ” 
“ I love Thee, my good Saviour! ” cried 
the soul, rushing to the embrace of Jesus.* 
Docile to my teachings, she had made her 
Judge her best friend. She had not to fear 

* St. Augustine, Conference witli Maximin. St. Thomas Yilla- 
nova, On the Angels. Godfrey, Abbot, Homilies. 



294 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


295 


any rigor on his part. The Redeemer does 
not allow himself to be outdone in gener¬ 
osity. 

The demon appeared nevertheless, not to 
destroy a soul already in possession of sal¬ 
vation, but to render her justification more 
imposing. It was proper that the impostor 
should be once more overwhelmed with con¬ 
fusion. He opened the book of death. 
What pleasure to be the accuser of the very 
faults he had caused to be committed! He 
did not see that those faults, once washed 
out, could not become matter of condem¬ 
nation.* 

I opened the book of life. The name of 
this soul shone there in immortal characters. 
His virtues and his works had been carefully 
inscribed in it. His faults were seen there 
only through the Divine blood that paid the 
ransom for them. The remembrance of them 

* St. Hilary, Comm, on Ps. cxviii. Raoul Ardent, On the Angels. 
Lives of SS. Antoninus, Viventian, Veronica, Felix Capucin, Mary 
of Antioch, Boll. 


296 


MEMOIRS OF A 


is preserved only to make shine forth the 
divine mercy, of which they were the object. 
The Judge recalled them only to confirm 
their pardon.* 

The scales were brought. On the side of 
the good actions I put the treasure of her 
virtues; in vain did Satan throw into the 
opposite side the deeds of evil. The good 
in all its value gained; the evil remitted had 
never had any weight, f 

Happy to give full scope to my zeal, I did 
not confine myself to repelling unjust accu¬ 
sations ; I exalted the virtues of my client, 
and showed how great ought to be the re¬ 
compense. Fully devoted to her interests, 
which I looked on as my own, and knowing 
the indulgence and goodness of her Judge, I 
poured out my heart in my discourse.^ 

There was no need of my enlightening 

* Life of St. John of Pulsano, Boll. 

f Life of St. Elizabeth of Sconauge, Boll. 

X John Lopes, Abridg. of the Teaching of the Holy Fathers. 
Boudon, Devotion to the Nine Choirs of Angels. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


297 


Him, who is light by essence, nor of inspir¬ 
ing favorable sentiments in One who is the 
source of all love; but He himself wished to 
reserve to me the honor and joy of obtaining 
for a soul I cherished an increase of glory. 

The sentence was pronounced, a sentence 
of benediction, that gave to heaven one more 
of the elect, and brought to my bosom an 
overflow of happiness. 





LXXXII. 



SPOT had been discerned by 
the eye of God. One must be 
pure to present himself before 
infinite purity. The just soul 
^ could not reach His throne, except 
jplllir ky through the place of expia¬ 

tion. I led her thither. We read 
sculptured over the entrance this consoling 
inscription : * 

“ THE SOJOURN OF HOPE ! ” 

Sure of eternal glory and consumed by 
charity, she received without terror the pains 
that were inflicted on her. 


* Life of St. Frances of Rome, Boll. 


298 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


299 


Of her own accord and with desire she 
plunged into the crucible. 

Could she have done so, she would not 
have wished to enjoy the full vision without 
having first satisfied sovereign justice.* 

The flames of purgatory are not dark like 
those of hell; they are clear and brilliant. 
Their brightness yields only to that of the 
souls that dwell in them. They cause, how¬ 
ever, sharp suffering, and I was obliged to 
moderate their activity.f 

The wicked spirit who had assisted at the 
judgment as accuser, followed us to the 
brink. There he stopped, and began to rail 
at the soul for the faults she was expiating. J 
I strove against the effects of this horrible 
sight, showing myself frequently, and multi¬ 
plying the tokens of my friendship. § 

By secret inspirations I urged the living 

* Louis de Blois, Retreat of the Faithful Soul. Life of St. Gertrude, 
Boll. 

f Life of St. Frances of Rome, Boll. 

X Life of St. Margaret of Cortona, Boll. 

\ J. Marchant, Garden of Pastors. Boudon, Devotion to the Nine 
Choirs of Angels. 


300 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


to remember the captive soul. The angels 
of the family re-echoed my voice, and gained 
the aid of prayers and of alms. The angels 
of heaven answered my supplications, by in¬ 
viting souls, once in like manner comforted, 
to repay their debt of gratitude. 

So much suffrage opened the spring of the 
Precious Blood. I poured it upon her like 
a refreshing dew.* 

The soul was to suffer a yet longer time, 
when those flames were suddenly extin¬ 
guished. 

In the cup I was pouring out there had 
been thrown some drops of an expiating 
blood. Whence came this blood? It had 
been gathered afar off, on the summit of a 
Calvary, and under the iron of an instrument 
of death : it was the blood of a martyr. 

Return to thy source, O generous blood! 
and may the father, so worthy of the name, 
be freed by the supernatural merits of His 
glorious son. 

* Life of St. Catherine of Bologna, Boll. 


LXXXIII. 


fl4 



^ S she came out of the flames, I 
received the purified soul and 
showed her heaven. 

The blessed came to meet us.* 
One angel could hold in his 
hand all the worlds united. To 
bring one soul the Lord sent thousands of 
them. He wished to exalt and honor her in 
her assumption. 

Each one was eager to touch the noble 
burden.f 

Many souls that owed their salvation to 


* St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels, 
f St. Chrysostom, Homily on the Rich Man. 

26 301 


302 


MEMOIRS OF A 


the prayers or examples of this new victor 
gave her their thanks and threw their crowns 
at her feet. 

One of them broke out into magnificent 
manifestations of gratitude — she who owed 
her the happiness of having made a good 
first communion. She had learned, on enter¬ 
ing heaven, that without that benefit she 
would have lived in sin, and been lost. 

But whose are those arms that encircle the 
old man, those accents that pierce him, those 
hearts pressed to his heart ? 

He has no difficulty in recognizing them : 

“ O my child! O my martyr ! ” “ Glory 

to you, dearly beloved father! father of the 
martyr and of the infant child ! ” 

What happiness in the bosom of God for 
the members of one family! 

And what consolation for me to intro¬ 
duce at last into eternal repose, and among 
those she had loved, a soul I had so long 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 303 

guided through the temptations and dangers 
of life ! 

After having made it my delight to share 
in her tears, how sweet it was to take part in 
her joy! * 


* St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. 


XXXXTV. 


V 





HE throne she was to occupy 
was originally destined for an 
angel. This angel having ex¬ 
cluded himself from it, in the day 
of trial, we bestowed on the soul 
that received his birthright the love 
we should have had for him. 

He would have sung the canticle of pre¬ 
servation ; she will chant the hymn of deliv¬ 
erance. The concert of voices will not be 
the less complete — it will be more varied.* 
Now, the very spirit excluded from this 


* St. Thomas, De Angelis, quaest. 10S, art. 8. St. Bernard, Comm, 
on the Canticle of Canticles. 





GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


305 


throne was the one that had so persecuted 
this soul, keeping to her as if he were her 
shadow, and making unheard-of efforts to 
ruin her. 

She escaped from him at last. He saw 
her forever withdraw from his temptations. 
She going to reign in glory, while he was to 
be thrust back into the abyss; and between 
the abyss and glory there was an impassable 
chaos. 

At this last spectacle the sword of envy 
was turned violently in his wounds, and the 
apostate felt pains he himself never would 
have imagined.* 

The last accents of heaven that sounded in 
his ear were the words I addressed him: 

“Yes, miserable wretch; we have tri¬ 
umphed over thy malice, and the victory we 
have won is without any gain to thee! 

“ The Lord hath lowered himself; he took 
the obscure grain of dust, he hath placed it 

* Life of St. Aldegond t, Boll. 

2G* U 


306 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


in the place of the star, and the grain of dust 
hath shone, it hath given light, it hath be¬ 
come Lucifer. 

“As for thee, fallen star, thou shalt an¬ 
nounce the day no longer. Darkness shall 
be thy garment and thy habitation. Thou 
shalt give only night, and thy name shall be 
Noctifer.* 

“ Salute, then, on the brow of this soul, the 
crown merited by humble wisdom; and go 
receive, in the depths of hell, the confusion 
reserved to proud folly.” 

* Peter de Blois, Discourse on St. Michael. 



9 


LXXXV. 

\t fivst 

NANIMOUS applause greeted 
our arrival, and was prolong¬ 
ed especially in the choir 
amid which the soul was to have 
her place. She sat beside me. 
Lgels and souls congratulated 
^ her on her exaltation. Those who 
were superior to her bent down to her, 
through love of her, and those who were in¬ 
ferior to her showed themselves happy to see 
her so honored. 

What were her impressions at this first 
glance she took around her in the infinite ? 
She seemed to wish to sound its depths, 

307 



308 


MEMOIRS OF A 


sought to discover what other riches heaven 
possessed, and found everywhere new secrets.* 

What ravishing joy at the apparition of 
this glorious world, in which the choirs and 
hierarchies are distributed with so much 
variety! Heaven is to her eyes a rose of 
vast size, of which the elect are the leaves, 
the Redeemer the stem, and God the life. 

What transports to see hasten to her those 
she had known and loved during her pil¬ 
grimage, those who had been united to her 
by ties of blood or of friendship ! 

What emotion on reaching the feet of that 
incomparable Queen, so raised above all by 
her dignity and by her glory, but so near to 
each one by her condescension and goodness ! 

What extasy when the soul is penetrated 
by the rays that come from the wounds of 
Jesus, and form around Him a mantle of 
light! 

What life is infused into a soul, all at once 


* St. Bernard, On Consideration, lib. 5, ch. iv. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


309 


transported into the midst of the infinite, 
and there drinking in for the first time, at 
their source, joy and delight! 

One language only could express what she 
felt at this moment — that language with 
which God speaks to himself internally, 
through the Spirit and the Word. 




LXXXVI. 


vjxjsjtqutes. 



^JROM the heights where the 
)/(3 soul was triumphing in new 
happiness, I saw the honors 
that were given to her body. I 
was present at the holy cere¬ 
monies, and presided. I had blessed 
the cradle; I was going to bless the 

tomb.* 

From the moment the old man had ceased 
to live, the tears had redoubled, and the 
bells, spreading afar their plaintive sound, 
awoke in all hearts grief that was sincere. 


* Life of St. Simon Stylites, Boll. 


✓ 


310 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


311 


They did not weep for the just man — they 
longed for his presence. The mourning was 
general, each one thought he had sustained a 
personal loss.* 

Around about me began the conversation 
of intimate friends: “ He is no more ! What 
a loss! Did it not seem as if he ought never 
die? If he is not saved, who will be? In¬ 
stead of praying for him, we should ask his 
prayers.” 

The confidants of his hidden virtues 
opened their lips for the first time, and told 
what they had managed to gain from his 
silence and modesty. 

But how incomplete this praise seemed to 
me, and what other revelations could I not 
have made! What was most perfect in the 
eyes of God, remained hid from the sight of 
men. The world will know one day the 
wealth of this noble life; 


* Life of St. Adelard, Ab. of Corbie, Boll. 


312 


MEMOIRS OF A 


No one knew how to designate such a 
death as this. The end of a beautiful day ? 
No; but the end of a beautiful night and 
the dawn of the only true day. A peaceful 
sleep here below, followed by a glorious 
awakening above. 

The angels wished to join with men in the 
homage given to virtue. 

Upon the house in which lay the remains 
of the just man there came to alight a cloud 
of charming little birds. They gave out 
melody of a surpassing sweetness, and accom¬ 
panied it with the joyous fluttering of their 
wings. Never had colors so vivid captivated 
the eye; never had voices so sweet delighted 
the ear. When the crowd gathered they 
seemed about to fly away: they described a 
graceful curve in the air, and regained the 
all-cherished one. It was soon known 
whence they had come, and what was their 
country. When they had accomplished their 
mission in singing the obsequies of the 


313 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 

friend of God, they hovered an instant above 
the earth that covered his body, then sud¬ 
denly flew up to heaven.* 

* Lives of SS. Simon Stylites, Elizabeth of Hungary, George of 
Clermont, Boll. 



LXXXVII. 



tff tfjt ihxt t 


LOVE the body of my 
chosen one. It was part of 
him, and could not be to me a 
thing of indifference. The no¬ 
ble instrument of her merits, it 
will follow the destiny of the soul, 
and share in it. I will watch over 
it as a protector and avenger. I will strike 
fear into the bold that seek to profane it; I 
will have a thousand favors for those that 
venerate it.* 

To the very trump of resurrection, it will 
remain intrusted to my keeping. The seal 

* St. Theodore Studite, On the Celestial Orders. Lives of SS. Con- 
stautine of Peronne, Vincent of Saragossa, Boll. 


314 






GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


315 


it bears is indelible. Everywhere I shall 
recognize those atoms, that were the holo¬ 
caust of charity, of chastity, of penance, 
and through which the sacraments gave the 
supernatural life of grace to the soul.* 

In the bosom of the earth and in the 
abyss of waters, on the wings of the wind 
and in the perfume of flowers, I follow them 
with my look. 

Whether they mount in the sap of plants, 
or come open themselves to the sun—whether 
they sleep beneath the mouldering layers of 
herbage, or mingle with the dry sand, for me 
they have the same excellence. 

Satan avoids them. They hurt his sight, 
as bright rays pierce the eyes of the birds of 
night, and they burn him like hot coals, if 
he happen to tread them under foot.f 

They spread around an odor that attracts 
the angels, and rejoices them, lifts up the 

* St. Ambrose, Serm. 93. 

fSt. Chrysostom, on St. Julian, and on the Machabees. 


316 


MEMOIRS OF A 


hearts of men and makes them better. 
Those members that were during life sub¬ 
ject to infirmity, after death possess the 
power of driving it away. 

I blessed God for deigning thus to honor 
the dust of my chosen one, while she was 
yet going through her purgatory in humilia¬ 
tion. 

At the last day, when fire shall come to 
regenerate the world, and when the sound of 
the trumpet shall burst forth, I shall have a 
very sweet duty to fulfil. I shall separate 
from this mass of ashes, the dust, the ob¬ 
ject of my veneration, and form of it a body 
that God will clothe with glory.* 

In characters of light, sovereign goodness 
will trace in this body the history of the vir¬ 
tues that were my joy — will adorn it with 
perfections it did not possess during trial. It 
will become light, subtle, transparent, and 
incorruptible. It will have to fear neither 


* St. Thomas, De Causa Resurr., q. 78, art. 3. 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


317 


weakness nor the wrinkles of age. Eternity 
knows neither age nor decline. 

The splendor of the body will be for the 
elect the complement of their glory. It will 
make them overflow with happiness un¬ 
known to pure spirits. Considering with 
the eyes of the soul the humanity of the 
Saviour, they will yet contemplate it with 
the eyes of the body, and this new sight will 
be the source of new joys. 

From the bosom of God the soul sees on 
earth the partner of her pilgrimage, and 
longs to be united to it; but this desire is 
without impatience, and does not mar her 
happiness.* 

* Louis de Blois, Retraite de l’ame fidele. 



27* 



LXXXVIII. 


l\t jutcviial I'uioit, 

HILE awaiting the confirma¬ 
tion of our glory at the last 
day, we were enjoying already 
an unchanging and infinite hap¬ 
piness. 

Who can tell the sweetness of an 
union formed in time to continue in 
eternity ! * 

Not having any longer a ministry of sal¬ 
vation to discharge toward this soul, I did 
not cease to show her my affection. I still 
contributed to her happiness by my caresses. 
I love to seat myself on the same throne, to 



* St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels, 


318 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


319 


circle my brow with the same crown, to be 
one heart and one spirit with her.* 

I unroll before her eyes the plan of Provi¬ 
dence in the work of her sanctification, and 
trace again the touching picture of my efforts 
to maintain her in good. 

She replies assuring me that this happy 
past is ever present to her memory, and that 
these sweet souvenirs are a perfume she 
breathes with delight.f 

Often, in these interviews of love, we 
leaned one upon the other, under the im¬ 
pulse of a Divine charity, and our hearts re¬ 
ceived the outpourings of a penetrating joy 
like to the dew of heaven. 

Thus, in the gardens of the earth, men see 
flowers, side by side, under the beneficent 
breath of the evening breeze, bend to give 
each other the kiss of peace, and to mingle 
their treasures. J 

* St. Thomas, De Angelis, q. 108, art. 8. St. Thomas of Villanova, 
On the Angels. 

f St. Thomas of Villanova, On the Angels. 

J Blot, “ An ciel on se reconnait,” 6me Lettre. 


320 


GUARDIAN ANGEL. 


It seems to us that, loving God in our¬ 
selves, and loving ourselves in God, the be¬ 
atitude of this ineffable love grows without 
ceasing.* 

By the mutual union of the angel and of 
man in the heavens, to God alone, forever 
be glory, honor, and benediction!! ! 

* St. Thomas of Villanova, Discourse on St. Michael. 


THE END. 































